Our future with the missions
26. June 11:15 - 12:30
As political support for EU Missions fluctuates, integration across initiatives and strong multilevel coordination can drive meaningful change on the ground - demonstrating a lasting positive impact on European competitiveness. This session will explore how the two interconnected European Missions on Adaptation and Climate Neutral and Smart Cities are shaping decisive and strategic support for local and regional governments as they navigate complex transformations.
Panellists will explore how coordinated financial support focusing on both adaptation and mitigation benefits can foster improved use of resources and accelerated action on the ground. At the same time, they will highlight current challenges and possible collaboration pathways to overcome them.
At this critical stage of implementation, the session will challenge current practices and approaches within the Missions. It will place multilevel governance at the centre of the discussion, encouraging deep reflection on the tension between driving long-term change and addressing short-term political demands.
Speakers
Vice President, BwB (Portugal)
Renata Haseth, Vice President, BwB
Prior to BwB, Renata worked at private equity social impact in Amsterdam, and held several positions in corporate and investment banking in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Singapore. She has worked in debt capital markets, project financing, and securitisation. Additionally, Renata has experience in strategic funding for a large corporate. Currently, she is working in the NetZeroCities team as the Adaptation and NBS sector head, helping cities to raise funding for climate adaptation and mitigation projects around Europe. Additionally, she is involved in Blue Economy projects and researching the financing of adaptation projects outside of NZC.
President, Helsinki-Uusimaa Region
Markku Markkula, President, Helsinki-Uusimaa Region
Dr Markku Markkula is the President of the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region Finland. He is Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), having been the CoR President in 2015-2017. His professional experience focuses on knowledge creation, societal innovations, change management, lifelong learning and the use of technology for societal progress. His experience includes the Advisor to the Aalto University Presidents. He was a Member of the Parliament of Finland 1995-2003.
Mr. Markkula has many influential roles in the EU policy, including the CoR Rapporteur on opinions on themes such as innovation, digitalization, research, industry and start-ups policy, SDGs and climate. Recently, he has been the CoR Rapporteur on the EU Missions, the New European Innovation Agenda, and the Future of EU Climate Policy: Aligning Mitigation Targets and Adaptation Challenges. He is the chair of the CoR Green Deal Going Local working group for 2025-2027.
DG CLIMA, European Commission
IRene Bonvissuto, DG CLIMA, European Commission
An environmental engineer as background, Irene leads the European Commission Team that implements the EU Adaptation to Climate Change Mission, bringing together resources from the Climate Action and the Research and Innovation departments. Before, she worked in the energ field, both on the policy side and on the programmes and projects implementation side, to increase renewable energies uptake in Europe and their effective integration of the renewable sources in the European electricity system.
European Investment Bank
LUIS Hebrero, European Investment Bank
European Commission - DG RTD
Wiebke Pankauke, European Commission - DG RTD
Coordinator of the General Manager Office, Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, EMA Network
Xavi Tiana, Coordinator of the General Manager Office, Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, EMA Network
Since November 2023, working as Coordinator of the General Manager Office in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. From January 2014 till October 2023, Head of International Relations of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. From November 2015 until July 2019, Secretary General of MedCities, a network of more than 80 cities and metropolitan areas in the Mediterranean region. From 1998 to 2008 and 2011 to 2013, worked at the Provincial Government of Barcelona as Head of the European Cooperation Office. From 2008 to 2011, Director of the Office of the President at the Public Audit Office of Catalonia. Postgraduate Diploma in Local Government (University of Barcelona), a Master's in European Studies and a Bachelor's in Political Science and International Relations (Autonomous University of Barcelona). Experience working for various international and national organizations as trainer and expert (European Commission, OECD, European Institute of Public Administration, Turkish Government, etc.).
Head of Climate Policy Unit, City of Warsaw, Poland
Joanna HeyDA, Head of Climate Policy Unit, City of Warsaw, Poland
Moderator
Senior Expert, Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
LUCA ARBAU, Senior Expert, RESILIENCE AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION, ICLEI EUROPE
Luca Arbau is an architect and a sustainable urban development practitioner. He is ICLEI Europe's representative in Brussels from the resilience and climate adaptation team. He is involved in the implementation of the EU Mission on Adaptation and the Covenant of Mayors - Europe's pillar on adaptation. He is a key organiser of the annual European Urban Resilience Forum. He holds a master's degree in international cooperation and emergency architecture from the International University of Catalonia (Spain) and a master's degree in architecture from the University of Ferrara (Italy).
Senior Climate Expert, ICLEI Europe
Nupur Prothi, Senior Climate Expert, ICLEI Europe
A Senior Climate Expert with ICLEI Europe, Nupur has engaged with place based climate action over 2 decades. As a practitioner of physical planning, landscape architecture (NbS) and urban conservation, she has overlapping expertise relevant to the EU Missions especially Mitigation and Adaptation. As an active member of the NetZeroCities Consortium, she co leads the strategic work on Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Reporting and Verification through the Data Impact and Monitoring Sub Committee. Collaborating with Vinnova, SLU University and Swedbio in Sweden, she is focussed on cross disciplinary collaboration on innovation and climate impact. As Life Member of ISOCARP she has contributed to urban task forces globally. Currently she is serving her second term on the ICOMOS Board.