Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing
Despite increased attention to climate finance in urban adaptation, empirical data on the socio-political processes shaping funding accessibility, allocation, and their implications for inter-urban adaptation progress remains limited. In a first-of-its-kind survey, we analyse results from 148 urban...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adde71 |
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| author | Kayin Venner Marta Olazabal Melissa García-Lamarca Aldo Treville Luca Costantino Arbau Paolo Bertoldi |
| author_facet | Kayin Venner Marta Olazabal Melissa García-Lamarca Aldo Treville Luca Costantino Arbau Paolo Bertoldi |
| author_sort | Kayin Venner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite increased attention to climate finance in urban adaptation, empirical data on the socio-political processes shaping funding accessibility, allocation, and their implications for inter-urban adaptation progress remains limited. In a first-of-its-kind survey, we analyse results from 148 urban administrations across 17 EU countries. Our results reveal widespread funding shortages (>85% of administrations), insufficient staff capacity (73%) and low levels of political support (43%). Additionally, we find limited participation of vulnerable groups and inadequate consideration of climate risks and vulnerability when allocating resources. Towns lag behind cities, and Southern Europe lags behind Northern Europe in funding adaptation measures. Notably, higher climate risk levels are not associated with easier access to funding sources or increased funding availability. With reliance on public funding over loans, we nuance the role of financialisation in urban climate governance and propose cohesive adaptation as a finance strategy towards more equitable policy and practice. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f94e73638c9a43169962d2ab108c77f2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-f94e73638c9a43169962d2ab108c77f22025-08-20T03:47:21ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120707406110.1088/1748-9326/adde71Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financingKayin Venner0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0286-4884Marta Olazabal1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3381-0654Melissa García-Lamarca2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4813-3633Aldo Treville3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4116-5544Luca Costantino Arbau4Paolo Bertoldi5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2797-7941Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) , 48140 Leioa, Spain; Institute of Technology and Environmental Science (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) , Barcelona, SpainBasque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) , 48140 Leioa, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science , 48009 Bilbao, SpainCentre for Sustainability Studies , Lund University, Lund, SwedenEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) , Ispra, ItalyICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability , Freiburg im Breisgau, GermanyEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) , Ispra, ItalyDespite increased attention to climate finance in urban adaptation, empirical data on the socio-political processes shaping funding accessibility, allocation, and their implications for inter-urban adaptation progress remains limited. In a first-of-its-kind survey, we analyse results from 148 urban administrations across 17 EU countries. Our results reveal widespread funding shortages (>85% of administrations), insufficient staff capacity (73%) and low levels of political support (43%). Additionally, we find limited participation of vulnerable groups and inadequate consideration of climate risks and vulnerability when allocating resources. Towns lag behind cities, and Southern Europe lags behind Northern Europe in funding adaptation measures. Notably, higher climate risk levels are not associated with easier access to funding sources or increased funding availability. With reliance on public funding over loans, we nuance the role of financialisation in urban climate governance and propose cohesive adaptation as a finance strategy towards more equitable policy and practice.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adde71urban climate adaptationadaptation financeinter-urban equityadaptation progressmunicipal finance |
| spellingShingle | Kayin Venner Marta Olazabal Melissa García-Lamarca Aldo Treville Luca Costantino Arbau Paolo Bertoldi Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing Environmental Research Letters urban climate adaptation adaptation finance inter-urban equity adaptation progress municipal finance |
| title | Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing |
| title_full | Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing |
| title_fullStr | Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing |
| title_short | Who leads, who lags? Inter-urban inequities in European climate adaptation funding and financing |
| title_sort | who leads who lags inter urban inequities in european climate adaptation funding and financing |
| topic | urban climate adaptation adaptation finance inter-urban equity adaptation progress municipal finance |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adde71 |
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