The newly launched UNDERPIN consortium gathered this past quarter near Versailles, France, in the Île-de-France region, to officially kick off this ambitious Horizon Europe–funded project. The meeting, kindly hosted by HEC Paris’ Sustainability & Organizations Institute (S&O), marked the start of a collaborative effort to transform how climate resilience is measured across Europe.
UNDERPIN is driven by a clear ambition: to move from promises on paper to real-world impact 🌍. As climate risks intensify, the project responds to a growing need for monitoring approaches that go beyond tracking activities and instead capture whether adaptation efforts are truly strengthening resilience on the ground.
Rethinking How We Measure Climate Resilience
The Horizon-funded project is transforming how climate resilience is measured by designing, co-developing, and validating an outcome-oriented framework that addresses critical gaps in climate adaptation monitoring. At its core, UNDERPIN aims to foster a coordinated and impact-oriented approach to resilience-building across Europe—one that better supports decision-making at regional and local levels.
To achieve this, UNDERPIN will:
- Develop a ready-to-use, outcome-oriented framework and dashboard that decision-makers, researchers, practitioners, and communities can adopt across diverse regional contexts.
- Harmonise monitoring, evaluation, and learning approaches with EU and UN reporting standards, enabling more effective tracking of adaptation efforts, progress, and real-world outcomes.
- Enable public authorities and EU Mission on Adaptation projects to make better, data-driven decisions that strengthen long-term resilience.
The project will also create and test a dashboard using novel data sources, including citizen science and Earth observation, in at least three European regions, with the ambition to replicate and scale it across additional EU Member States.
A Strong European Consortium
Led by HEC Paris, the UNDERPIN consortium brings together leading climate experts and practitioners from across Europe, including the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), CMCC Foundation – Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, TECNALIA Research & Innovation, Climate KIC, IIED Europe, adelphi, Fresh Thoughts Consulting GmbH, and ICLEI Europe.
Together, the partners contribute complementary expertise in systems modelling and analysis, impact assessment, digital tools and applied research for adaptation, innovation ecosystems, inclusive governance, climate policy and communications, stakeholder engagement, co-creation, local government networks, and implementation support.