Territorial RRI fostering Innovative Climate Action

Project Information

TeRRIFICA

Grant agreement ID: 824489

DOI

10.3030/824489

Project closed

EC signature date 20 November 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• Integrate society in science and innovation issues, policies and activities in order to integrate citizens' interests and values and to increase the quality, relevance, social acceptability and sustainability of research and innovation outcomes in various fields of activity from social innovation to areas such as biotechnology and nanotechnology

Total cost

€ 1 999 953,89

EU contribution

€ 1 999 953,89

Coordinated by

WISSENSCHAFTSLADEN BONN EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - TeRRIFICA (Territorial RRI fostering Innovative Climate Action)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Heat, drought, heavy rain - many people in Europe are already feeling the effects of climate change. TeRRIFICA (Territorial Responsible Research and Innovation Fostering Innovative Climate Action) with its partners in six regions of Europe identified best practice and the approaches that are already in place to adapt to climate change effects. Along with civil society, science, administration and policymakers they developed solutions to defy climate change.
Starting in January 2019 and with duration of four years the project set up tailored roadmaps for the implementation of developed methodologies and climate change adaptation activities in regional practice. Customised capacity building for different stakeholder groups were offered. Through workshops, regional and international summer schools, TeRRIFICA empowered local actors to jointly find adequate solutions for identified problems. Through its co-creative multi-actor approaches, participants expanded their knowledge around climate change and innovative climate action and recognised opportunities, drivers and barriers of implementation.
The pilot regions had been carefully chosen to compose a significant panorama of the future adaptability of the results, measures, actions, recommendations. Each region or city agglomeration brought its own characteristics and features, contributing relevant aspects to the project's landscape. TeRRIFICA operated in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, in the capital and major cities of Belgrade, Poznan and Minsk, in the agricultural region of Oldenburger Muensterland, and the rural regions of Brittany, Normandy and Pays de Loire. The pilot regions offered similarities in geography and climate. The difference in the countries’ scientific potential and infrastructure and different stages of transformation inspired TeRRIFICA’s activities and benefited the exchange between different cultures and their values. TeRRIFICA's specific set of objectives aimed at:
• involving citizens in agenda-setting processes corresponding to climate change challenges
• developing Climate Change Adaptation Plans
• creating new tools for governance innovations and decision-making process for climate change
• developing, testing and evaluating various cooperation formats

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TeRRIFICA started with a reflexion and discussion about RRI. Six co-creation teams composed of representatives of different stakeholder and actor groups were established and consulted. Participants contributed to the identification of regional needs and priorities. 17 case studies of community-academia research partnership related to climate change adaptation and/or mitigation have been identified from the regions or countries. The TeRRIFICA teams worked as facilitators for initiating, maintaining, and supporting local networks, interactions and activities.
At the core of TeRRIFICA's work was the development of a crowd mapping tool to visualise and aggregate crowd-generated inputs to create a website with an interactive map. which. The crowd mapping tool was built as a web mapping application - a. This map brings local issues to the attention of public services and allowed (and still allows) users to create spatially located information with the help of a geo-questionnaire. The main software tools used are all Open Source and made available as Open Source in a GitHUB repository (ZENODO). With each added point, the project received information about the personal experience and knowledge of citizens in relation to climate change. Points added were the start of work on strategies and plans for adaptation to or mitigation of climate change.
2020 was the year to accelerate co-creation activities in pilot regions. The COVID restrictions have forced pilot regions to adapt constantly. They have implemented communication strategies and activities to disseminate the crowd-mapping tool.
TeRRIFICA was presented at major European events, such as ESOF or the EWRC. The project has presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. In total 6 TeRRIFICA Newsletter were launched. The TeRRIFICA International Summer School “Climate Futures” was held in Barcelona in September 2022. Together with the H2020 project RRI2SCALE the projects’ Final Conferences were held together. In addition, TeRRIFICA was selected to write and design a Societal Engagement Story: ‘The Road to Climate Action’ was published by the SocKETs project. All collaborations strengthened TeRRIFICA in disseminating its results.
After four years into the project, TeRRIFICA has developed recommendations for tailored audiences: The 1st policy brief addressed roadmaps and key performance indicators, aiming to implement established methodologies and climate change adaptation and mitigation activities in regional practice. The 2nd Policy Brief addressed decision-makers and organisations engaged in, or searching to engage in, multi-stakeholder research endeavours.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Especially during 2021 & 2022, TeRRIFICA has created great public interest. It has been listed as a reference project in the Green Deal Call.
The team around Adam Mickiewicz University cooperated with the Poznań Metropolis Association, on the initiation of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Poznań Metropolis as the first strategic document entirely dedicated to climate change adaptation on the regional level in Poland. The co-creation team of the Center for the Promotion of Science developed a summer campaign “Cool down the city!” with a specially designed mobile meteorological station. In consultative workshops mini-action plans were developed based on climate challenges mapped by citizens. Based on the crowd-mapping activities In Minsk by the Association Education for Sustainable Development several hot spots were identified and served as a starting point for local climate adaptation plans such as a Club of Eco-friendly Transport Friends - educational and bike-sharing - and a “Green instead of Grey” activity for planting trees with local citizens in polluted urban areas. In France Sciences Citoyennes manage to integrate participatory research as a component of teaching especially by taking into account climate issues in agricultural education and the possibility of taking concrete action. An informal multi-stakeholder network on climate issues in agricultural education in Normandy was established. University of Vechta established close relations to different local heritage communities and city administrations as well as the mayors of some of the cities in the pilot region. Along this a local climate protection officer asked to co-develop a project for a “citizen climate park”. The project started in March 2022. In Barcelona ACUP managed to connect actors and establish new cooperation relationships between different stakeholders. These links are emerging as lasting and with an impact beyond the project itself. The crowd-mapping tool has also proven useful for climate activists, as it offers a space for the exchange of information and knowledge. It not only empowers citizens in climate activism but also provides information to the administrations to generate public policies with citizens.
A full overview on all pilot regions with a focus on their various contexts and specificities, can be found in the deliverable "Summary report on climate change adaptation activities in the regions" This document describes the lessons learned and highlights the perspectives that could arise beyond the TeRRIFICA project.

An overview of partner countries involved in TeRRIFICA

Stakeholder at TeRRIFICA reflective workshop

The TeRRIFICA consortium