Europe's Climate Adaptation & Resilience Leadership Summit

• How is the EU Adaptation Strategy shaping national and regional approaches to climate resilience across Europe?
• What are the main regulatory and funding mechanisms currently driving adaptation efforts at the EU level, and how are they being implemented?
• How is the EU addressing climate risks to critical infrastructure and supply chains, particularly in vulnerable regions and cross-border contexts?
• In what ways can the EU strengthen cooperation with the private sector and local governments to accelerate adaptation, especially in high-risk areas?

• What are the core climate adaptation and resilience disclosure regulations currently in place across Europe? Are they clear?
• What are the main challenges and gaps identified by regulators, companies, and investors in current disclosure requirements?
• Is there a need for an overhaul or enhancement of these regulations to better capture adaptation risks and resilience measures? What might those improvements look like?
• How do European disclosure standards compare to other global frameworks, and what lessons can be learned?

• How can deployable flood protection systems be implemented as a short- to medium-term solution while European cities pursue long-term infrastructure like sea walls and levees?
• What types of flood scenarios—coastal, riverine, or flash flooding—are best suited to modular, engineer-led flood mitigation systems?
• How are private-sector actors (e.g. real estate, ports, logistics) and insurers using deployable barriers as a tool for risk reduction and insurability?
• What barriers to adoption—regulatory, institutional, or financial—exist in Europe, and how can cities overcome them to deploy flexible flood solutions quickly?

Start-up your resilience engines! Impact-driven investors will be stationed across breakout tables, ready to meet climate adaptation and resilience innovators. Start-ups will rotate between investors, each having 4 minutes to pitch their solution before moving to the next table.

• What short- and mid-term flood resilience measures are being adopted by cities facing high flood risk but long infrastructure timelines?
• How are European municipalities evaluating and procuring deployable barriers or modular infrastructure and what challenges exist in integrating them?
• In what ways can cities balance nature-based solutions with engineered systems to build layered, flexible defenses?
• What lessons have emerged from cities like Venice, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, and how can smaller cities adapt these strategies within their own fiscal and regulatory constraints?

Organisations invite attendees to participate in intimate discussions around key challenges relating to climate adaptation and resilience. The session will culminate in the sharing of new ideas between the delegation.

• How are European-led satellite programmes like Copernicus driving climate risk assessment and adaptation planning?
• What are the emerging opportunities for using geospatial AI and Earth observation data to support decision-making at national and local levels?
• How can collaboration between public agencies, private tech firms, and research institutions accelerate the deployment of climate intelligence tools?
• What steps are needed to improve accessibility, interoperability, and impact of geospatial data across regions and sectors?

• How are European utilities deploying AI and machine learning to anticipate outages, optimise load, and prevent cascading failures?
• What lessons have been learned from recent grid events—such as the Spanish blackout—and how is AI being used to mitigate similar risks across Europe?
• In what ways are utilities integrating geospatial intelligence, satellite data, and real-time analytics to monitor climate risks and infrastructure vulnerabilities?
• What are the challenges in scaling AI across legacy systems, and how are utilities approaching data governance, cybersecurity, and workforce transformation?

• How are countries in the Global South addressing the most urgent climate adaptation needs—from water scarcity and extreme heat to food security and flooding?
• What innovations or community-based strategies are emerging as effective models for resilience?
• Is the current flow of climate adaptation finance actually reaching those most at risk, and what role does loss and damage funding play?
• How can international policy, philanthropy, and the private sector better support scalable, locally-led solutions?

• How are insurers evolving their underwriting strategies and catastrophe models in response to accelerating climate risk?
• What are the limits of insurability in a warming world—and how are insurers preparing for regions or sectors that may soon become “uninsurable”?
• What new public-private partnerships are emerging between insurers and governments to support resilience infrastructure and pre-disaster financing?
• How is the industry using climate analytics, satellite data, and AI to improve risk prediction and drive investment into adaptation rather than just payouts?

• What have recent major wildfire events, and record-breaking UK blazes, revealed about preparedness, coordination, and land management?
• Which innovative technologies are emerging as game-changers in Europe’s wildfire response?
• How are EU and national emergency mechanisms evolving to meet escalating fire risks?
• Acknowledging the shift from suppression, what strategies are essential for ecosystem recovery, specifically for reforestation in fire-scarred Mediterranean zones?

• VC’s are under pressure due to conventional VC models often misaligning with climate adaptation projects, and what are the implications for innovation in this space?
• What roles can Corporate Venture Capital, Family Offices, and foundations play in filling the investment gap in adaptation?
• How can the investment community overcome the lack of shared language and education around climate resilience among non-traditional investors like family offices?
• What needs to change in how investors define success in climate adaptation finance, especially when compared to mitigation-focused ventures?

• 5-minute case setting
• 25-minute breakout discussion
• 20-minute feedback sharing with the audience 

At the forefront of global climate adaptation, Europe faces complex challenges requiring urgent, integrated responses. In this interactive session, inspired by the ambition and yearly convening off the back of SB62 and ahead of COP 30, AUEU1 will bring together the continent’s brightest minds to identify priority adaptation gaps, mobilize multi-stakeholder action, and formulate a strategic, pan-European adaptation agenda.

Through focused dialogues and cross-sector collaboration, the session aims to co-create a strategic, actionable European Adaptation Action Framework. This framework will prioritize scalable investment solutions, integrated governance approaches, nature-based adaptation, and resilient infrastructure development — all designed to accelerate Europe’s transition to a climate-resilient future that safeguards communities, economies, and ecosystems.

• What are the most acute climate risks to your global supply chain, and how are you addressing them today?
• What role are tools like climate scenario modeling, geospatial AI, or insurance partnerships playing in corporate risk reduction?
• How are corporates supporting supplier adaptation, especially in high-risk regions?
• How are emerging regulations reshaping how you manage and disclose supply chain climate risk?

• How is the National Grid influencing European energy policy and resilience through its role in ENTSO-E and other cross-border initiatives?
• In what ways is the EU Energy Union framework strengthening regional cooperation and energy security across member states?
• How are EU-supported investments like TYNDP and the Connecting Europe Facility helping to modernise grid infrastructure for a net-zero future?
• What innovations in digitalisation and decentralisation are driving greater flexibility and climate resilience in Europe’s energy systems?

• What’s the state of nature-based solutions in Europe—are they adequately funded, protected, and integrated into urban and regional adaptation plans?
• How are infrastructure-heavy sectors like real estate, transportation, and extractives adapting to worsening physical climate risk in Europe?
• How are regulatory and financial frameworks—such as CSRD, the EU Green Deal, and the Nature Restoration Law—shaping both corporate and public adaptation investments?
• What does best practice look like in integrating green and grey infrastructure for water management, urban cooling, and coastal protection?

Organisations invite attendees to participate in intimate discussions around key challenges relating to climate adaptation and resilience. The session will culminate in the sharing of new ideas between the delegation. 

• What were the biggest roadblocks in taking an adaptation solution from idea to implementation?
• How did customers evaluate and justify the investment in resilience—what mattered most?
• What support (policy, funding, internal buy-in) made the rollout possible or held it back?
• What would each side (startup and buyer) do differently next time to speed adoption or improve outcomes?

• How are countries in Southern vs. Northern Europe preparing for and responding to the public health impacts of extreme heat?
• What data exists—and what’s still missing—on how heat affects public health, worker productivity, and economic stability?
• Who bears the greatest burden from rising heat: governments, employers, or healthcare systems?
• How can businesses and public institutions better plan for workforce health disruptions caused by climate-related heat stress?

• What are the top climate risks affecting agricultural productivity in your region or sector today—and how are they being addressed?
• How are farmers and agri-businesses adapting to soil degradation, flood cycles, or water scarcity on the ground?
• Are early warning systems, frost protection, crop modeling, or blended finance closing the gap fast enough?
• How can the EU Common Agricultural Policy or national programs better incentivise resilience, not just sustainability?

• How are blended finance models being used to accelerate adaptation projects that lack commercial viability under traditional investment frameworks?
• What opportunities exist to mix grants, concessionary capital, debt, and public equity to fund large-scale infrastructure for adaptation?
• In what ways can government funding, development banks, and philanthropy catalyse private capital for high-risk or first-of-a-kind projects?
• What lessons can be drawn from the blue economy and ocean-focused adaptation investments, which often operate outside conventional VC norms?