As the world’s most rapidly warming region, Europe is increasingly susceptible to a range of associated impacts on health, water availability, biodiversity etc. The roundtable began with the moderator Tim Rayner describing how adaptation has come to join emission reduction efforts in the overall EU climate policy portfolio.
Philippe Tulkens from the Commission followed, by introducing the new EU Mission on Adaptation as an exciting means to promote climate resilience in a range of communities and regions around the continent between now and 2030. The Mission will encourage policy and plan-making processes to mobilise a wide range of societal actors – including scientists and social scientists - to work on shared, potentially more transformative, approaches.
Diana Reckien from Twente University, drew from her research to consider how well municipalities across the EU have done so far in developing their adaptation plans, the significance of participatory processes (of the kind the Mission will be encouraging), and difficulties in involving the most vulnernable. Participatory processes, she suggested, are more likely to deliver transformative solutions to adaptation problems than mitigation. Several panellists then responded.
Joana Balsemao, from one of Portugal’s most environmentally progressive local authorities, Cascais, emphasised the importance of engaging with local academics and officials in her own Council. Responding to water scarcity was a key issue.
Based on her recent research, Carla Gomes stressed the importance of finding synergies between mitigation and adaptation in managing water scarcity in ways that can protect the most vulnerable. Catarina Roseta Palma reflected on the difference between complicated systems and complex, the latter type being far more challenging. These challenges extend to nature-based solutions and the need to measure progress, especially towards justice aspects of ‘just resilience’.
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Panel
Philippe Tulkens appointed as Head of Unit "Climate and Planetary Boundaries" at the European Commission in 2021, leads EU R&I activities focusing on climate change, biodiversity, nature-based solutions, and environmental observation. He leverages research outcomes to shape EU policies in alignment with the European Green Deal. Tulkens has held previous positions as Deputy Head of Unit, driving clean energy innovation, and policy assistant at DG RTD. With a PhD in climate physics, he has consistently bridged the gap between climate science and policy throughout his career, working for academic institutions, the Belgian government, the IPCC Chair, and the European Commission since 2006. Currently, he serves as the Deputy Mission Manager for the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change since May 2022.
Joana Balsemão is trained in International Relations (BS) and Environmental Change and Management (MSc, Oxford University). She has over 20 years of experience in the field of sustainability both in government (local, national and EU level) and the non-profit sector. In whichever of these contexts, the common-thread of her work has been to drive environmental transformation. Another essential item in Joana's toolbox is her keenness on promoting participation, she believes that engagement is paramount to building trust and resilience in communities and organisations. Joana is currently an elected member of the executive at Cascais Council, responsible for environmental policies and active citizenship processes.
Catarina Roseta-Palma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Iscte. She was Iscte's Director of Sustainability from 2018 to 2022. Her main research interests are natural resource management, especially water, and environmental policy. She worked as a consultant with Regional Water Boards (ARH Alentejo and Algarve) and INAG (Portuguese Water Authority), as well as the Portuguese Environment Ministry and the European Commission. She was in the Portuguese Commission for Green Fiscal Reform (2014). She is a member of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, where she was elected EAERE Council Member for the period 2010-2013 (vice-president for 2012-2013) and of the Iberian Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERNA), where she was a member of the Board in 2005-2011.
Carla Gomes is a research fellow at the ICS-ULisboa. Her research has focused mostly on adaptation to climate change and environmental justice. She currently leads WP5 - Society, Governance, Policy - at H2020 Project B-WaterSmart, addressing sustainable water management across six European regions. She was awarded her PhD by the University of East Anglia (UK), in co-tutelle with the University of Lisbon.
Diana Reckien is an Associate Professor of Climate Change and Urban Inequalities at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. She works at the interface of climate change governance and urban research with a focus on justice and equity, e.g., related to the trade-offs of climate planning and policies for different societal groups, synergies between adaptation and mitigation, and co-benefits of climate plans with other societal goals. She works on the role of urban greenery as an adaptation and mitigation measure to initiate transitions in urban areas and, if adaptation fails, on conditions of climate change migration as a last resort. Diana was Coordinating Lead Author of the Working Group II Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report (Ch17). Diana has also led parts of the Second Assessment Report (ARC3.2) and currently leads an Element of the Third Assessment Report for Climate Change in Cities (ARC3.3).
Moderator
Tim Rayner is a Researcher at the University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences and Tyndall Centre since 2006. He has published on mitigation and adaptation-related policy areas, and emerging debates over climate engineering and the potential for greenhouse gas removal. Key expertise and interest in European Union climate policy and governance; adaptation and resilience; policy appraisal and evaluation and their roles in the policy process.