Project objectives:

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are considered essential to addressing the climate crisis. They have the potential to simultaneously address climate change, biodiversity loss, and human well-being and development by providing various ecosystem services. However, the generally small size of NBS projects, the difficulties in measuring and monetizing co-benefits, along with their long payback periods and risk profile, undermine their attractiveness for financing.

Compared to NBS alone, the combination of nature-based solutions, ecosystem approaches, physical measures, and technological measures enables measurable results in shorter timeframes, reducing the risk profile, facilitating faster implementation and long-term maintenance, expanding opportunities for ecosystem innovation, and increasing investment attractiveness.

With the aim of ensuring bankability right from the design stage (bankability-by-design), the project RISE-IN It will evaluate a suite of climate-resilient solutions, including NBS, ecosystem approaches, and physical measures, mapping and quantifying co-benefits and subsequently identifying innovative financing and investment opportunities. Through co-creation and participatory processes with local stakeholders, including investors and businesses, it will be possible to select the most appropriate solutions for each site, in terms of functionality and access to funding, within an equitable resilience framework.just resilience).

The demonstration sites included in the project are: Cesena (Italy), Christchurch (New Zealand) and Póvoa de Varzim (Portugal)The RISE-IN demonstration solutions will be further adapted for replication to Ghent (Belgium), Zhytomyr (Ukraine), Kadikoy (Türkiye) and in others 3 additional demonstration city sites, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the concept in facilitating bankability and encouraging implementation on a European and international scale.

The assessment will be complemented by three climate risk analysis models, which will help reduce uncertainty related to risks associated with extreme events, water runoff, and capital loss.