EIT Climate-KIC and Glasgow City Region join forces, helping the region innovate to become climate resilient

Home to one third of Scotland’s population and provider of 33 per cent of the nation’s jobs, the Glasgow City Region is at risk from climate change. The region along the river Clyde faces many complex and interrelated challenges that need more than superficial, mainstream solutions. The project Clyde Rebuilt aims to understand the web of interrelations that create these urgent problems and identify a variety of innovations that can be explored, combined, applied, and scaled in the region. Clyde Rebuilt is one chapter of EIT Climate-KIC “Deep Demonstration Resilient Regions” programme.

The citizens of the Glasgow City Region face the risk of more frequent floods and other dangerous weather events, resulting in damage to homes, roads and railways, and stresses to hospitals and emergency services as global temperatures rise due to climate change. Clyde Rebuilt is a ground-breaking project in which representatives from across the region jointly develop interconnected projects for adapting to these climate change challenges by 2030.

Clyde Rebuilt will bring together community groups, local councils, universities, businesses, government agencies and other bodies. They will collaborate to identify a range of joined-up actions that can change the way the region’s society, economy and environment operate together, making them stronger as the effects of climate change become ever more apparent.

The new collective is based on the idea that climate change can best be tackled if different groups from one city or region join forces to find solutions to their specific problems. Clyde Rebuilt was formed by Climate Ready Clyde, an existing group of 15 local organisations, and EIT Climate-KIC, the EU’s climate innovation agency, that specialises, among other things, in identifying innovations to help regions both slow down climate change and deal with it.

“Clyde Rebuilt will give organisations across the Glasgow City Region a process in which they can voice their ideas, test those ideas and see whether they will work at a scale that can make a big difference,” said James Curran, Chair of Climate Ready Clyde. “We intend to move from gradually improving our climate resilience to making larger shifts more quickly.”

“That means switching focus from stand-alone projects like concrete flood walls to more systemic solutions that might couple river restoration with wetland creation, flood forecasting and warning systems, and new insurance mechanisms,” said Ellie Tonks, Project Lead at EIT Climate-KIC. “Regions are a bridge between the local and national, so let’s start here.”

Clyde Rebuilt is the latest stage of Climate Ready Clyde’s initiative to enable people and businesses in the Glasgow City Region to continue to thrive as the area’s climate becomes more extreme. Two years ago, it published an eye-opening report about the growing threat of climate change to the region’s citizens and physical infrastructure. Clyde Rebuilt is supporting Climate Ready Clyde to complete the final stages of the region’s adaptation strategy (or action plan) to enable citizens to make their lives and livelihoods “climate ready”. At the same time, it is laying the groundwork to implement these innovative actions as a key strand of delivering the strategy.

The project is co-funded by Climate Ready Clyde and EIT Climate-KIC, and managed by Sniffer, a Scottish sustainability charity, with climate-and-culture experts at Creative Carbon Scotland and climate-change finance experts at Paul Watkiss Associates. Clyde Rebuilt is part of EIT Climate-KIC’s “Resilient Regions”, a programme that aims to help representatives from affected regions in Europe come up with concrete and connected projects to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. In Glasgow City Region, Climate Ready Clyde and EIT Climate-KIC are now identifying a first set of projects, scheduled between 2021 and 2023, and are planning to use the success of this approach to attract support to extend the programme to 2030.

The next decade of innovative projects will help support a ‘green recovery’ by building a more resilient economy and society, creating a flourishing Glasgow City Region with benefits in increased health, equality and income for its citizens. Clyde Rebuilt will have the potential to make a significant contribution to the Scottish Government’s Second Climate Change Adaptation Programme – even more crucial now that the world is aiming for a green recovery after COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented global crisis which has fundamentally changed every aspect of our lives, but the climate emergency has not gone away and must be central to our recovery from this difficult time,” said Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish Government’s Secretary for Climate Change. “We will only meet our climate goals by bringing together the talent that we have and by working together, and this exciting development by Climate Ready Clyde puts the Glasgow City Region in a great position to help lead Scotland’s fight against climate change, and will contribute to our wider ambitions for the Clyde corridor, reflected in the ‘Clyde Mission’ approach being developed across Scottish Government and partners.”

Learn more about the Deep Demonstration Resilient Regions.

 
Location
United Kingdom
Related Goal
Goal 9: Reboot regional economies
Articles you may be interested in
In The News
For cities to become climate-resilient, they need to invest in capability buil...

As cities grapple with transforming and adapting to meet...

For cities to become climate-resilient, they need to invest in capability building
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC signs declaration ‘EU Green Deal: from local to global’

All around the globe, cities and regions are driving...

EIT Climate-KIC signs declaration ‘EU Green Deal: from local to global’
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC organises first Festival of Circular Economy and Bioeconomy in...

Running from November 28 to December 2, the activities...

EIT Climate-KIC organises first Festival of Circular Economy and Bioeconomy in Santander
In The News
What does climate action look like for the Culture and Creative Sector Industr...

The Culture and Creative Sector Industries (CCSI) can play...

What does climate action look like for the Culture and Creative Sector Industries?
In The News
Collaboration and knowledge sharing is key to unlocking capital for climate ne...

In order to reach net zero by 2030, or...

Collaboration and knowledge sharing is key to unlocking capital for climate neutrality
In The News
Gipuzkoa shapes the green future with local actors

Gipuzkoa is taking action towards sustainability through collaboration with...

Gipuzkoa shapes the green future with local actors
In The News
How can we enable African climate innovation to thrive?  

Much of the discussion around COP27 this year has...

How can we enable African climate innovation to thrive?  
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC and partners publish recommendations to include systemic lands...

The European Green Deal represents a unique opportunity for...

EIT Climate-KIC and partners publish recommendations to include systemic landscape thinking into EU policies to achieve the Green Deal
In The News
The challenges of building a resilient farmers’ community in Africa

Audrey S-Darko is a researcher and a farmer from...

The challenges of building a resilient farmers’ community in Africa
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC joins business and civil society to call on governments to uph...

As the official COP27 outcomes are being drafted this...

EIT Climate-KIC joins business and civil society to call on governments to uphold commitments to 1.5
In The News
Climate innovation: “The purpose is people, everything else is just the mean...

Massamba Thioye is leading the UN climate change Global...

Climate innovation: “The purpose is people, everything else is just the means”
In The News
Become a European Climate Leader

The Climate-KIC International Foundation is looking for a Supervisory...

Become a European Climate Leader
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC launches open-access database to map start-up ecosystem, now w...

Climate start-ups supported by EIT Climate-KIC are now worth...

EIT Climate-KIC launches open-access database to map start-up ecosystem, now worth €11.8 billion in combined enterprise value
In The News
Slovenia higher education reform aims to create a supportive environment for s...

Slovenia’s ministry of higher education is gearing up for...

Slovenia higher education reform aims to create a supportive environment for students and teachers
In The News
Co-designing the future of coal regions

EIT Climate-KIC launches the Post Coal Future Lab initiative...

Co-designing the future of coal regions
In The News
Bringing in business is key to achieving systems transformation on the climate...

“What does it mean to enable businesses to deal...

Bringing in business is key to achieving systems transformation on the climate crisis
In The News
What will it take to build the New European Bauhaus?

“Beautiful, Sustainable, Together”. These are the values – and...

What will it take to build the New European Bauhaus?
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC selects five partners in Global South to implement gender main...

The intersection of climate and innovation remains a male-dominated...

EIT Climate-KIC selects five partners in Global South to implement gender mainstreaming into entrepreneurship
In The News
Citizens inspire a car-free Leuven

A broad survey, possible solutions displayed on screens, inspirational...

Citizens inspire a car-free Leuven
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC accelerates climate tech solutions for a net-zero Africa 

Climate-focused start-up teams in developing countries face distinct challenges...

EIT Climate-KIC accelerates climate tech solutions for a net-zero Africa 
In The News
New European Bauhaus Hackathons will reward most innovative solutions

EIT Community New European Bauhaus partners will be hosting...

New European Bauhaus Hackathons will reward most innovative solutions
In The News
Slovenia takes a pivotal turn towards circularity

Slovenia has decided to actively combat climate change by...

Slovenia takes a pivotal turn towards circularity
In The News
Innovative climate projects part of EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiat...

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has...

Innovative climate projects part of EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiative
In The News
A new air and climate plan for Milan

The City Council of Milan approved the Air and...

A new air and climate plan for Milan
In The News
Meet the three EIT Climate-KIC innovators nominated for EIT Awards

Three innovators from EIT Climate-KIC’s community have been nominated...

Meet the three EIT Climate-KIC innovators nominated for EIT Awards
In The News
100 European cities take up the challenge to become carbon neutral by 2030

On Monday 13 June, the representatives of the 100...

100 European cities take up the challenge to become carbon neutral by 2030
In The News
The role of cities and regions in transforming wood value chains

Climate smart forest economies It’s a crucial decade for...

The role of cities and regions in transforming wood value chains
In The News
Glasgow City Region pioneering forest economy innovation to drive climate acti...

Scotland’s largest city region is actively tackling climate change...

Glasgow City Region pioneering forest economy innovation to drive climate action
In The News
Forging sustainable timber construction in Europe

EIT Climate-KIC and Built by Nature, announce an initiative...

Forging sustainable timber construction in Europe
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC launches new Circularity Thinking training programme

EIT Climate-KIC is launching Circularity Thinking courses to tackle...

EIT Climate-KIC launches new Circularity Thinking training programme