About SMARTER
SMARTER is a Horizon Europe project advancing systemic climate adaptation through collaboration and co-design with local communities and municipalities.
By working closely with local experts, stakeholders, policymakers and communities, we’re co-developing tools and nature-based solutions for systemic climate adaptation, tailored to local needs.
Our approach
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The climate crisis is global, but different communities face their own distinct climate risks. SMARTER’s 10 Climate Adaptation Labs will collaborate with local organisations in each region to identify the climate risks that they’re facing, and their broader impacts on communities, landscapes and different sectors.
Within these local contexts, SMARTER will develop climate adaptation solutions that meet the ecological and socio-economic needs of each Lab, supporting the EU Climate Adaptation Mission’s goal to lead at least 150 European regions and communities towards climate resilience by 2030.
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By working with nature, SMARTER will help communities, regions and sectors adapt to climate risks, while also delivering lasting benefits for people, nature and the climate.
SMARTER is testing and implementing nature-based solutions such as urban green spaces, water retention basins and ecological corridors. These solutions will benefit people’s wellbeing and support tourism, housing, healthcare, education, transport and other economic sectors, and will be designed to complement other engineered solutions, in order to achieve each region’s climate adaptation goals.
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SMARTER will use modelling tools to understand the links and similarities between different sectors and regions, to see the likely impacts of interventions and where else in Europe they could be applied with similar results. Through new frameworks and approaches developed during the project, SMARTER’s work will extend beyond the Climate Action Labs by encouraging and facilitating collaboration across Europe and other projects.
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The tools developed throughout the SMARTER project will be collated in an easy-to-use online toolbox. This will include an interactive map, roadmaps for achieving climate resilience, and a portfolio of climate adaptation solutions.
The toolbox will provide local governments, urban planners, environmental professionals and other researchers with resources to support all phases of climate adaptation policy, covering design, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring. By supporting every stage of the process, SMARTER aims to accelerate the systemic adaptation of climate resilient solutions throughout and beyond the project.
To help Europe adapt to the now unavoidable impacts of climate change, moving beyond isolated measures and embracing a more systemic approach – one that recognises the connections between society, nature and the economy – is imperative.
The SMARTER project is advancing systemic climate adaptation by:
