Guidance document on transformational adaptation - Deliverable 6.4

Executive summary This guidance document is based on the following three outputs: The MIP4Adapt Transformational Adaptation Thematic Working Group Policy Brief “Understanding Transformational Adaptation: A shared vision across EU Horizon projects” An academic paper titled “Defining and assessing Transformational Adaptation: the TransformAr Scorecard” submitted to Environmental Research Communications An online webtool scorecard.transformar.eu The EU is ambitious in its climate goals, with the objective to become climate resilient by 2030. This means that we need to speed up, and do more, but how? The TWG TA Policy Brief introduces the concept of transformational adaptation, based on the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report. The policy brief emphasizes that transformational adaptation is a strategic, systemic approach focused on addressing the root causes of vulnerability to climate change. Instead of short-term, incremental responses, transformational adaptation seeks fundamental shifts in economic, governance, and social systems, ensuring long-termclimate resilience. It also highlights that transformational adaptation should be proactive, considering future uncertainties and aiming to reduce harm to people, socio-economic systems, and natural environments. Moreover, it identifies barriers to transformational adaptation related to: incentives, conflicting interests (e.g., economic growth versus nature conservation), costs and uncertainty induced by the required long-term vision. While the policy brief gives example case studies of transformational adaptation and gives some recommendations for putting transformational adaptation into practice, the academic paper and the scorecard work towards assessing the transformational potential of adaptation solutions or projects. Five principles of transformational adaptation are identified: scope, impact areas, depth, temporality, and inclusivity. These principles are split into more concrete criteria. Both principles and the correspondingcriteria were derived from a literature review on transformational adaptation (e.g., Chhetri et al., 2019; Deubelli and Mechler, 2021; Fedele et al., 2019; Kasdan et al., 2021; Scolobig et al., 2023). The criteria were translated into statements, easily answerable by project stakeholders and finally implemented into an online webtool. The TransformAr Scorecard is a self-assessment tool for developers or stakeholders of adaptation programs or projects to assess to what extent their project is transformational. The goal is to identify whether the adaptation project can improve on certain criteria to create more long-term, systemic and impactful (transformational) change. The tool’s results dashboard allows respondents to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their adaptation project from a transformational adaptation point of view. For example, if a project scores poorly on the criterion ‘equitable’, then project developers know that they should improve the consideration or involvement of vulnerable citizens (e.g., elderly, economically disadvantaged citizens). If a project scores highly on the criterion ‘scalability’, the project developers know that their efforts to make the project replicable contribute to the project’s transformational character. The assessment can be done before, during, or after implementing an adaptation project, but is ideally done ex ante, when improvements can still be made. This deliverable integrates the efforts of many contributors, also beyond TransformAr. Firstly, a lot of gratitude goes towards all co-authors of the policy brief, members of the Thematic Working Group on Transformational Adaptation. Secondly, thank you to Guido Schmidt and Teresa Geidel from Fresh Thoughts Consulting for contributing to the academic paper and the Scorecard. Finally, a big thank you goes to Carla Garcia-Lozano (University of Girona), Pål Godard (Gjøvik), Efren Feliu Torres (Tecnalia),Amaya Soto (CETMAR) and Bert Voortman (Rijkswaterstaat) for validating the scorecard through an interview about their adaptation solutions.