The Eurecat technology centre is coordinating the IMPETUS project which is funded with a €14.8 million budget. It is designed to fast-track Europe’s response to climate change and pinpoint specific actions involving innovative measures to help with climate adaptation and make progress towards becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
The project, which in Catalonia also involves the Catalan Government’s Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Rovira i Virgili University, the University of Girona and Lobelia Earth, will explore synergies between climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, support for regional socio-economic growth and stability, and the transition of communities towards ecological sustainability and resilience.
“Ninety-three percent of Europeans consider climate change to be a serious problem,” points out Aitor Corchero, the IMPETUS project’s technical coordinator and a researcher at Eurecat’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Unit. “We have to tailor our policy actions and strategies to the new climate scenarios in order to deliver an effective response. We also need a better understanding of when and how to act in the transition to a green economy.”
“Given the current climate emergency, it is essential to draw up long-term adaptation and mitigation strategies which help transform the economic model and enhance environmental quality,” adds Xavier Martínez Lladó, director of Eurecat’s Water, Air and Soil Unit. “We also need to engage the public in this process.”
The IMPETUS project “will make it possible to set up virtual data spaces in several European regions to involve all stakeholders in devising strategies and actions against climate change”, says Xavier Domingo, director of Eurecat’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Unit. “Digitalisation and artificial intelligence will be enablers for sharing knowledge, information and experiences across regions.”
The consortium will also explore innovative, nature-based technical solutions for governance, financing and public participation, including setting up a data space as an interconnected network to assist with mapping out climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.
It will additionally roll out cost-effective and environmentally, economically and socially sustainable actions to support key community systems such as water, agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure and health using scalable solutions designed and built with policymakers, businesses and communities to ensure they are implemented.
Each of Europe’s seven bioclimatic regions – Arctic, Atlantic, Boreal, Coastal, Continental, Mediterranean and Mountainous – will host a regional test bed where innovative solutions will be piloted and scaled up. Multidisciplinary teams in research, environmental policy, industry and civil society will address real-world challenges in these regions.
The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Green Deal call and involves a consortium of 32 partners from nine European countries.
