Fitting consistent knowledge into the planning process: An integrated database on adaptation and mitigation measures in Europe.

Climate action is far from meeting the internationally agreed adaptation and mitigation goals. Even though climate action planning has increased since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the implementation rate of those plans remains low. Climate planning literature claims that accounting for long-term planning and implementation times, accurately estimating costs, identifying synergies and trade-offs between measures, or considering justice and equity issues might increase the quality of climate plans and facilitate the further implementation of climate actions.

Key dimensions of cities' engagement in the transition to climate neutrality.

Urbanization and the concentration of energy-consuming economic activities make cities responsible for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The European Cities Mission launched a call in September 2021 to set out on a path towards "100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030".

Climate mitigation in the Mediterranean Europe: An assessment of regional and city-level plans.

In Europe, regions in the Mediterranean area share common characteristics in terms of high sensitivity to climate change impacts. Does this translate into specificities regarding climate action that could arise from these Mediterranean characteristics? This paper sheds light on regional and local climate mitigation actions of the Mediterranean Europe, focusing on the plans to reduce greenhouse gases emissions in a representative sample of 51 regions and 73 cities across 9 Mediterranean countries (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain). The study investigates: (i) the availability of local and regional mitigation plans, (ii) their goals in term of greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets on the short and medium-long term, and (iii) the impact of transnational climate networks on such local and regional climate mitigation planning.

Multi-level climate change planning: An analysis of the Italian case.

As recognized by the Paris Climate Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), local and subnational regions are crucial actors to achieve international mitigation and adaptation commitments. Scientific literature and empirical evidence point at multi-level climate governance as a crucial factor to engage subnational levels in the achievement of national and international objectives. This work focuses on the multi-level climate governance arrangements in Italy to investigate how Italian regions/provinces/cities are contributing to the achievement of national commitments.

What is in an index? Construction method, data metric, and weighting scheme determine the outcome of composite social vulnerability indices in New York City.

Mapping social vulnerability is a prominent way to identify regions in which the lack of capacity to cope with the impacts of weather extremes is nested in the social setting, aiding climate change adaptation for vulnerable residents, neighborhoods, or localities. Calculating social vulnerability usually involves the construction of a composite index, for which several construction methods have been suggested. However, thorough investigation of results across methods or applied weighting of vulnerability factors is largely missing.

A structured participatory method to support policy option analysis in a social-ecological system.

In this study we demonstrate how to support policy option analysis for a problematic Social-Ecological System (SES) with the help of stakeholder participation. SES sustainability problems 1) are highly complex, 2) may lack reliable data, 3) encompass conflicting interests and 4) may require contradictory management interventions. Our approach uses a structured participatory method combining the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model together with Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) to capture the complexity of the system and simplify its representation for simulation and policy option analysis.

National climate policies across Europe and their impacts on cities strategies.

Globally, efforts are underway to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change impacts at the local level. However, there is a poor understanding of the relationship between city strategies on climate change mitigation and adaptation and the relevant policies at national and European level. This paper describes a comparative study and evaluation of cross-national policy.

The Influence of Drivers and Barriers on Urban Adaptation and Mitigation Plans-An Empirical Analysis of European Cities.

Cities are recognised as key players in global adaptation and mitigation efforts because the majority of people live in cities. However, in Europe, which is highly urbanized and one of the most advanced regions in terms of environmental policies, there is considerable diversity in the regional distribution, ambition and scope of climate change responses. This paper explores potential factors contributing to such diversity in 200 large and medium-sized cities across 11 European countries.