Just Resilience across Europe – Building our collective capacities on the ''what, why and how''

27 June 9:30 - 10:15

Location: Sala de Expocisiones

As increasing attention is placed on building Europe's resilience to climate change, there is growing recognition that particular groups of people face disproportionate risks that must be addressed if we are to ensure adaptation actions ''leave nobody behind''. The2021 EU adaptation strategy introduced the notion of ‘just resilience’, emphasising that the impacts of climate change are not felt equally by all groups and that achieving resilience in a just and fair way is essential for the equitable distribution of climate adaptation benefits. Although EU and national climate policies increasingly draw attention to vulnerable groups and emphasise the need for equitable adaptation solutions, the practical implementation of such solutions is not yet sufficiently undertaken.


Join our thought-provoking panel where speakers will delve into the ''what, why, and how'' of Just Resilience across Europe.  Featuring presentations that move from theory to practise at local, regional and national levels, panellists will share experiences of how their work is embedding equity and justice considerations into all stages of adaptation planning, implementation and monitoring and engaging meaningfully with vulnerable groups. The session will include connection points with the session’s audience to also hear their experiences, all as a means of inspiring future justice-oriented actions.

This session is part of the Multilevel governance, cooperation and just transition: resilience leaves no one behind stream.

Speakers

Hanne van den Berg

Climate Adaptation Expert, European Environment Agency (Denmark)

Hanne van den Berg, Climate Adaptation Expert, European Environment Agency

Hanne van den Berg is a climate resilience and adaptation expert passionate about making cities more liveable and just in the face of climate change. She has close to fifteen years of international experience on climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, governance, (participatory) urban planning and decision-support tools from a multi-sectoral perspective.
Hanne currently works at the European Environment Agency as a climate adaptation expert specialized in justice and equity in climate change adaptation. Within this position, she also takes part in the UNFCCC international climate negotiations as part of the European Commission's Negotiation Taskforce and Team EU.
Hanne holds a Doctoral degree from Harvard University (DDes, Fulbright Fellow), an MSc degree in Urban Planning and Design from Delft University of Technology, a BA and MA (Cantab) degree in Architecture from the University of Cambridge, as well as a BSc in Natural Sciences from Utrecht University.

Ludwig Sonesson

Climate Adaptation Strategist, City of Malmö (Sweden)

Ludwig Sonesson, Climate Adaptation Strategist, City of Malmo

Ludwig Sonesson works as a Climate Adaptation Strategist for the City of Malmö focused on urban greening, nature-based solutions, heat risks and just adaptation. With a background in both adaptation and in futures studies, his mission is to anticipate the risks of the future and use nature to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected.

Emilio Servera-Martinez

European Projects Officer, València Clima i Energia, Valencia City Council (Spain)

Emilio Servera-Martinez, ValÈncia Clima i Energia, Valencia City Council

Emilio Servera-Martinez is a European Projects Officer at València Clima I Energia, the Climate and Energy Agency of Valencia City Council. With an academic background in Agricultural Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Natural Resource Management, his career has been focused on climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, and urban resilience. He has contributed to R&I projects like ARCH. Currently, Emilio is deeply involved in European projects, notably the Fair Local Green Deals . His role extends to being a member of the team working on the València 2030 Climate Mission, an initiative aiming to make Valencia a climate-neutral and resilient city by 2030. Through this locally-approved innovation mission, the city coordinates its participation in the EU Adaptation and Neutral Cities Missions.

Andreea Vornicu

Researcher, Center for the Study of Democracy (Romania)

Andreea Vornicu, Researcher, Center for the Study of Democracy

Andreea is a researcher affiliated to the Center for the Study of Democracy with an interest in exploring the manifestations of energy poverty in Romania and CEE countries. Recently, she has been involved in projects related to carbon pricing mechanisms across EU and the implementation of the Social Climate Fund. Andreea is also an active member of the Romanian Observatory of Energy Poverty, where she actively contributes with her expertise bot in mapping the vulnerable households and in identifying sustainable solutions aligned with climate goals.

Moderated by

Alison De Luise

Adaptation Manager, Climate Alliance

Alison De Luise, Adaptation Manager, Climate Alliance

Alison is an urban climate change adaptation specialist, applying policy, partnership & program management experience towards support city resiliency. As Manager, Adaptation to Climate Change at Climate Alliance, Alison contributes to the Covenant of Mayors for Europe's adaptation and energy poverty work, building adaptation capacity across European cities. She also manages the EEA European Topic Center on Climate Change Just Resilience Task. Prior to this, Alison led strategic initiatives aimed at supporting case-making for Green Infrastructure across US cities. As Senior Advisor at the Water Center at Penn, she co-developed integrated solutions to complex urban water resource challenges. As head of Strategic Partnerships at Bioversity International, she focused her partnership development efforts on achieving development impact and securing funding. This work built on her years working for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in food security and in rural development policy. The foundation of all this experience was her three years establishing social enterprise initiatives in Swaziland.

Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé

Leading Researcher at Demos Helsinki (Finland)

Kaisa Schmidt-Thome, Leading Researcher, Demos Helsinki

Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé is based at Demos Helsinki as a Leading Researcher, focusing on Urban Transformations. She works also with cities and urban regions on sustainability transitions and social inclusion. With her background in Geography (University of Helsinki, Lic.Phil. in 2004) and Land Use Planning (Aalto University, Dr.Tech. in 2015) she is a generalist–urbanist who has published among others on planning theory, participatory urban planning and municipal climate leadership. She holds the title of a Docent, i.e, Adjunct Professor, in Strategic Planning for Urban Sustainability at Tampere University. Recently Kaisa has been working several Horizon Europe projects, such as Regions4Climate, NetZeroCities and CommuniCity.