Shaping climate action and solutions with local communities: the experience of Adaptation AGORA and CLIMAS projects under the umbrella of the EU Mission Adaptation to Climate Change

Addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change requires innovative approaches that prioritise communities as active participants in shaping solutions, especially in adaptation context. The Adaptation AGORA project, funded by Horizon Europe, exemplifies this by integrating citizen needs and perspectives into climate adaptation planning across diverse European regions through participatory methodologies. Similarly, the CLIMAS project focuses on how citizens can directly contribute to formulating actionable policy recommendations for climate adaptation through Climate assemblies and the tools needed to run these assemblies. CLIMAS integrates citizen science and living labs as transformative tools to co-create inclusive policies that enhance participatory decision-making processes. 

Both projects support the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change by leveraging best practices, innovative tools, policy instruments, and governance mechanisms to engage communities in climate action and deliberative democracy meaningfully. Together, they address the challenges of climate change with integrated methodologies aimed at driving social and political transformation. In addition, both projects share a commitment to promoting citizen science, building community capacity through workshops and training, and fostering knowledge sharing. They also emphasise the use of participatory methodologies to co-create solutions and integrate citizen-generated data into policy and planning processes.

The CLIMAS project focuses on an innovative toolkit designed to integrate citizen science into different phases of climate assemblies, providing citizens with experiential knowledge and co-developing policy recommendations. This toolkit was developed through a co-creation process led by the Ebre Bioterritori Living Lab in Catalonia, which acted as a hub for collaboration among policymakers, climate assembly organisers, scientists, local communities, and citizens. Through this process, key citizen science projects and activities were identified to catalyse meaningful actions in climate assemblies. The toolkit was subsequently tested in the Chios Living Lab and during two climate assemblies held in Riga (Latvia) and Edermünde (Germany). Early results demonstrated the toolkit’s potential to enhance citizen engagement, promote collaborative and bottom-up learning, and bridge the gap between scientific evidence and participatory decision-making for climate action. 

Adaptation AGORA, on the other hand, focuses on direct community engagement in local adaptation processes and emphasises societal transformation through transdisciplinary approaches. The project is developing a roadmap for large-scale citizen engagement, aimed at ensuring long-term impact and policy transferability while prioritising climate justice, gender equality, and equity. For instance, in the Italian pilot, Rome’s Climate Adaptation Strategy was co-designed through an iterative dialogue with citizens, reflecting their active role in shaping climate solutions. Across its four pilot regions, Adaptation AGORA has facilitated workshops and focus groups that brought together diverse stakeholders—including underrepresented and vulnerable groups—to co-design and implement actionable strategies. Between January and February 2024, Adaptation AGORA organised final co-creation workshops in each pilot region, engaging citizens, civil society organisations, academics, experts, and policymakers to develop and co-create adaptation measures and innovative engagement methodologies.

This presentation will showcase the activities and outcomes of Adaptation AGORA’s co-creation workshops in the pilot regions, discuss the challenges and opportunities encountered, and highlight the complementarity between Adaptation AGORA and CLIMAS in fostering resilient, inclusive, and community-driven climate adaptation strategies.