2024 Forum on the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change in Belgium

The EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change is part of the Horizon Europe funding programme for Research and Innovation, and aims to help Europe's regions and cities achieve climate resilience by encouraging the development of innovative solutions at regional and local level. As part of the Adaptation Mission, a Forum for stakeholder engagement is being organised every year since 2022. This event provides an opportunity to take stock of achievements and set out the Mission's guidelines. This year’s Forum was held on 13 June 2023 in Blekinge (Sweden), in collaboration with the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Given that the third Forum will take place during the Belgian Presidency of the EU, Belgium proposes to host the event in collaboration with the European Commission. This is all the more relevant as Belgium has defined “adaptation and resilience” as one of its focuses for the work of the ENVI Council configuration. Also, all three Belgian regions are involved in the EU Horizon Mission programmes: the Mission Adaptation to Climate Change on the one hand (Flanders, Wallonia) and the Mission Climate Neutral and Smart Cities on the other hand (Brussels).

Since the timing of the Mission Forum in 2024, coincides with the campaign for the upcoming European elections, hosting the event in Europe’s capital will provide an ideal platform for high-level contributions to facilitate meaningful discussions, collaborations, and innovative solutions to address pressing present and future environmental challenges in Europe, and to ensure that the environmental policy remains at the forefront of the European political agenda.