Day 1 - 25. June 2025
Opening Plenary Day 1
Resilience in Crisis: Accelerating Action for a Just Future
EURESFO25 will build on the 11th edition discussions, challenging conventional approaches to resilience, aiming to accelerating action. The event opens with a high-level political dialogue shaping strategic direction, rooted in the realities faced by local authorities. Through multilevel cooperation, participants will tackle key challenges like extreme weather, conflicts, housing, and economic instability. The Forum aims to foster bold, collaborative solutions for a safer, resilient, and equitable Europe, keeping these pressing issues central to all discussions.
Parallel Sessions day 1
Weathering the Future: Integrated Water Resilience Approaches
Recent extreme events such as floods and droughts across Europe have highlighted the growing need to better connect short-term disaster response with long-term planning for water resilience. Through contributions from on-the-ground practitioners and high-level speakers, the session will reflect on recent experiences and examine what has worked, what has not, and how these insights are being embedded into future strategies. The discussion will also explore how different levels of governance can work together more effectively to bridge emergency response, climate adaptation and water resilience.
Building Urban Resilience in an Era of Polycrisis: The Holistic Agenda
How cities can navigate interconnected crises - climate change, economic instability, social inequalities, and geopolitical shift- through a holistic resilience agenda. The session will discuss integrated governance models, cross-sector collaboration, and innovative financing mechanisms that enable cities to build adaptive capacity. It will highlight practical approaches to embedding resilience across urban planning, infrastructure, and community engagement strategies.
Shaping the future of Risk Reduction and Affordable Insurance
This roundtable session explores how public-private collaboration—including the insurance sector—can unlock financing for urban resilience and disaster risk reduction. Join policymakers, insurers, private sector actors, and resilience experts to exchange ideas, share practical examples, and discuss innovative, risk-informed investment strategies that strengthen local capacity and resilience.
Afternoon Option 1: Mobile Workshops
Planning Places, Shaping Futures: Co-Creating Transformative Resilience Pathways Through Strategic and Spatial Planning
This interactive workshop will explore how strategic and spatial planning can drive transformative resilience pathways in cities and regions. Through expert provocations, group exercises, and city reflections, participants will co-develop ideas integrating blue-green infrastructure, placemaking, and community ownership to build equitable, climate-resilient urban futures.
Digital Tools for Climate Resilience: Harnessing Geospatial Data and Local Insights
How can cities turn data into climate action? This interactive session showcases tools from the VALORADA project for drought and heat risk assessment, as well as insights from Eurisy’s Geo Spatial Tools for Cities group and ICLEI Action Fund projects. Through live demos and breakout discussions, participants will explore data-driven solutions for risk assessment, scenario modeling, and local adaptation planning.
From Practice to Policy: Innovating Water Resilience through Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
The session will explore how NbS strengthen water resilience and support the objectives of EU water-related policies. It will develop policy recommendations in line with EU frameworks, especially the drafted Water Resilience Strategy. Showcasing local/regional examples, it will discuss enablers, barriers and lessons learned and will highlight how NbS tackle climate-related challenges like flood management, water scarcity, wastewater treatment and reuse, water quality and ecosystem restoration.
Local Action to Address Extreme Heat - CitiesHitRefresh
Europe is heating twice as fast as the global average, placing increasing pressure on cities and local governments to adapt to rising temperatures. This session provides a platform for peer exchange among cities at the forefront of tackling extreme heat, offering insights from both European and international experiences. Through case studies and collaborative discussions, participants will explore key challenges and best practices, with a particular focus on stakeholder engagement, strategies to protect and support at-risk populations and how to accelerate action through strong multi-level governance.
Afternoon Option 2: Sessions at Main Venue
Towards climate-resilient cities: Co-creating tools & services for local action
This session delves into the transformative role of co-creation - the collaborative process of designing climate resilience tools and services with local communities, city stakeholders, and experts. By integrating scientific knowledge with local insights, these tools have the potential to bridge the gap between policy and practice, creating more effective climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. We will discuss on how these tools can be institutionalized within cities’ governance structures and how can they be scaled to ensure impact beyond pilot areas.
Resilience Starts at Home: Advancing Affordable, Low- Emission and Climate-Adapted Housing in the EU
With 85–95% of buildings likely still in use by 2050, Europe’s housing stock must be central to climate and social policy. As climate change and living costs rise, affordable, sustainable housing is increasingly urgent. This session brings together experts to explore how to retrofit and future-proof homes equitably and efficiently, and how EU initiatives like the Renovation Wave and Affordable Housing Strategy can support this just, sustainable transition.
Closing Plenary Day 1
European stories of resilience making
EURESFO's first day will close with a discussion on key insights from the day's sessions, including a reflection on the future of private adaptation financing for resilience-building. This plenary will also host the Local Sustainability Award Ceremony, celebrating bold local leadership for a sustainable transition. Join ICLEI Europe and partners to discover the nominated cities and regions and their innovative initiatives driving a just, climate-neutral, and cohesive future.
Day 2 - 26. June 2025
Opening Plenary Day 2
Building a Just and Resilient Future: From Knowledge to Action
This plenary explores insights from the upcoming EEA flagship report on Just Resilience, highlighting progress at all governance levels and examining how adaptation measures can unintentionally create injustices. Speakers will share key findings, practical experiences, and reflections on how lessons from just transition efforts can inform just resilience in climate adaptation.
Parallel sessions day 2
Our future with the Missions
While political support to the EU Missions is wavering, increased integrated action across different initiatives and an increased multilevel coordination might accelerate transformations on the ground and demonstrate a long term positive impact on European competitiveness.
Climate adaptation from Buildings to Regions: governance and solutions across scales and sectors
This session explores strategies for systemic climate adaptation across building, urban, and territorial scales, focusing on multi-level and cross-sectoral governance. Participants will reflect on challenges and solutions in climate resilience planning and discuss how governance dynamics can support or hinder implementation, highlighting lessons learned and opportunities for more effective coordination across governance levels and sectors.
Small in Size, Big on Climate Action - Advancing Climate Resilience in smaller municipalities
Larger cities are often seen as front-runners on resilience, but what about smaller municipalities? What potential limitations do they face, and what actions are they already taking to overcome these? Are there good case studies we can showcase from smaller municipalities? How can these municipalities be better supported?
Afternoon Option 1: Mobile Workshop
Nature Restoration Regulation and local level implementation: How much green is enough?
To be confirmed.
Afternoon Option 2: Sessions at Main Venue Part 1
Outermost regions driving climate resilience in the EU
To be confirmed.
Bridging Knowledge and Practice: A Deep Dive into Regional Climate Resilience
This workshop will explore key enabling conditions that drive regional resilience under the EU Mission on Adaptation. Focusing on finance, data, governance, and behavioural change, participants will engage with experts to translate theory into practice. Together, we’ll identify concrete strategies to support local and regional governments in advancing Europe’s climate resilience transformation.
It’s Time for Action: An Approach to Building Climate-Just and Resilient Neighbourhoods in Rotterdam
Achieving climate justice requires systemic change that centers communities. This session explores how cities can drive district-level transformation through the UP2030 5UP approach, using Rotterdam’s BoTu neighborhood as a case study. Participants will gain hands-on insights into integrating climate neutrality, resilience, and spatial justice into planning through interactive discussion and practical tools
Afternoon Option 2: Sessions at Main Venue Part 2
AI for Climate Resilience in European Cities: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This session explores how AI is reshaping climate-resilient, low-carbon cities offering tools for risk assessment, scenario modelling, and urban planning. While AI unlocks powerful insights, it also raises ethical and environmental concerns. Through an interactive fishbowl and roundtable, city leaders, experts, and EU reps will unpack the “good, bad, and ugly” of AI and explore practical steps for fair, accountable climate solutions.
Collaborate, Educate, Transform: Building the Future of Nature-Based Solutions in Cities
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are crucial for building resilience to climate change, but require capacity-building across society to be mainstreamed into policy and practice. This session will empower city officials to integrate NbS into urban resilience strategies through interactive discussions, case studies, and practical approaches. Topics include education, policy, governance, and partnerships. Engaging discussions and peer-to-peer exchange will provide actionable insights on overcoming barriers, and strengthening institutional capacity.
Closing Plenary day 2
Our way forward: Strengthening the European Resilience Partnership
After two days of exchange and collaboration, the final plenary will reflect on key insights and outline next steps. Speakers from all governance levels will drive a coordinated approach, turning discussions into actionable strategies. The Resilience Partnership will anchor ongoing collaboration, as stakeholders explore how to actively shape a more just and resilient future for Europe.