The project brought together 12 partners from six Central European countries, working with municipalities, regional agencies, universities, businesses, public service providers, civil society organizations and citizens to establish six Community Climate Resilience Missions. These Missions became local living laboratories where stakeholders jointly identified climate risks, designed solutions and tested new governance approaches for adapting to climate change. (Interreg Central Europe)
From strategy to local action
The project’s cornerstone is the Joint Strategy for Climate-Resilient Communities of Central Europe, complemented by six locally tailored Community Climate Resilience Action Plans. Developed through a collaborative process and based on comprehensive local risk and vulnerability assessments, these documents provide a practical roadmap for communities seeking to strengthen their resilience to climate change by 2030. They combine governance measures, financing approaches, environmental priorities and citizen engagement into one integrated framework. (Interreg Central Europe)
Practical solutions tested in six pilot territories
MISSION CE CLIMATE translated strategy into practice through six pilot actions (https://shorturl.at/1Gno4) addressing some of Central Europe’s most pressing climate challenges:
- reducing urban heat islands;
- managing water scarcity;
- improving flood-resilience through co-creation with citizens ;
- supporting citizen-based environmental monitoring;
- strengthening climate governance;
- introducing digital climate monitoring for evidence-based municipal decision-making.
These pilots produced a portfolio of practical climate resilience solutions, including digital monitoring tools, climate dashboards, citizen science approaches, governance methodologies, guidance documents and transferable good practices that can be replicated by communities across Europe. (Interreg Central Europe)
Delivering measurable local impact
Several pilot actions have already generated tangible benefits.
- On the Croatian island of Brač, the water-loss monitoring solution helped achieve drinking water savings of up to 40% in some locations and led the public water utility to establish a permanent water-loss monitoring unit.
- In Lignano Sabbiadoro (Italy), climate adaptation was successfully integrated with participatory public-space planning, resulting in the adoption of a municipal Green Management Plan and stronger citizen involvement in local decision-making.
- In Pforzheim (Germany), more than 600 citizens participated in collecting local climate data through citizen science activities, creating a stronger connection between community observations and municipal climate action.
- In Maribor (Slovenia), green-roof bus shelters, additional greenery and microclimate monitoring transformed a busy urban bus stop into a climate-resilient public space, providing measurable data and a scalable model for reducing heat stress in cities.
- In Košice (Slovakia), a digital monitoring platform was developed to visualise data from locally measured climate indicators and to enable primary schools involved in the MISSION CE CLIMATE project to use these data in the learning process. Already during the first school year, the platform was used by seven schools through a tailored educational programme, in which pupils learned how to measure, analyse, and interpret climate data in their local environment.
Across all pilot territories, municipalities strengthened their capacity to plan, monitor and implement climate adaptation measures while building long-term cooperation between institutions and local communities.
A lasting legacy for Central Europe
Beyond the pilot actions, MISSION CE CLIMATE created a strong transnational learning network. Twenty-six organizations collaborated through peer learning, knowledge exchange and joint development of methods and tools, ensuring that project results can be transferred far beyond the participating regions. Universities and schools have already incorporated project materials into educational activities, while municipalities and regional authorities gained new governance models, digital tools and practical capacities for mainstreaming climate resilience into everyday planning. (Interreg Central Europe)
Importantly, the six Community Climate Resilience Missions continue beyond the project’s lifetime as local climate resilience hubs. Several partners have already expanded pilot activities or secured additional funding to implement measures identified in their local action plans, ensuring that the project’s impact will continue to grow.
Explore the project outputs
MISSION CE CLIMATE leaves behind a comprehensive collection of freely available resources to support climate adaptation across Central Europe, including:
- Joint Strategy for Climate-Resilient Communities of Central Europe
- Community Climate Resilience Action Plans
- Climate Resilience Pilot Solutions
- Digital Climate Resilience Solution
- Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology
- Roadmap for establishing Community Climate Resilience Missions
- Guide for Communities on Climate Resilience
- Citizens’ Guide for Climate Resilience
- Funding Instruments for Climate Resilience
- Training materials and capacity-building resources
- Climate Resilience Platform
All project outputs are available through the project website and the Climate Resilience Platform, providing municipalities, organizations and citizens with practical tools to accelerate local climate adaptation. (more at https://shorturl.at/1Gno4)
MISSION CE CLIMATE has shown that climate resilience is built not only through better plans and technologies, but through stronger partnerships, informed decision-making and active communities. By combining governance, digital innovation, citizen engagement and practical pilot actions, the project has laid a solid foundation for more resilient communities across Central Europe.