In the panel discussion entitled “Creating a Hub for Climate Change: Sustainability and Recovery” held in the context of the Athens Democracy Forum organized by the Democracy & Culture Foundation in collaboration with the New York Times, Ms Maria Logotheti, economist, Minister Counsellor ad honorem and Senior Policy Advisor at ELIAMEP, spoke about the factors that led to the creation of the two-year “Sustainability and Recovery in Greece and SE Europe” programme.

The panel also included: Rik Daems, President, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Mr Michael Berkowitz, Founding Principal, Resilient Cities Catalyst; and Mr Philip Glanville, Mayor of Hackney Borough of London. The discussion was moderated by Mr Antonis Kefalas, economist and Vice-Chair of the Democracy & Culture Foundation.

“The two-year Resilience and Recovery in Greece and SE Europe programme aspires to respond to the need to create an informed and responsible society that can contribute to the development of solutions to the complex challenges posed by climate change and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and, in short, make progress in relation to climate change and the recovery goals in Greece and the wider region”, Ms Logotheti stressed in her opening address.

As she noted, the program is rooted in local and regional approaches, but also incorporates international best practices and synergies with a view to making a decisive impact in terms of mapping actors and actions in the field of climate change, facilitating the exchange of knowledge between sectors and fields that do not otherwise communicate (through the creation of an online platform), accelerating the design and implementation of transformation projects and resilience programs in cities across the country, and also of creating an interconnected community that operates with the participation of both professionals and citizens at the national level.

“The successive impacts of climate change and COVID-19 have revealed the need to rethink the urban and socio-economic development model in the light of resilience through immediate and ambitious activities aimed at developing the skills needed to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow”, she added.

The European Green Deal, NextGenEU, and the new EU strategy on Adaptation to climate change have paved the way for the design and implementation of climate resilience and recovery programs and projects, although there is a significant shortage of the capabilities required to achieve these ambitious goals.

Currently, the fragmentation of knowledge and data is hindering the development of transformation solutions, and citizens, municipalities and central authorities, the private sector, academia and civil society must work together in novel ways to develop innovative approaches and new knowledge.

It is essential that collaborative action is promoted by collecting and evaluating key initiatives, scientific data, educational resources, best practices and legal commitments relating to climate change and climate neutrality, at both the local and national level, in one place (an online “one-stop shop” platform), along with information relating to the creation of new green jobs.

It is also important to build the capacity of municipal authorities and communities, to strengthen contact between national, regional and local stakeholders, and to promote peer learning, with a focus on implementation in Greece and beyond by means of online and offline applications and an emphasis on the use of tools like participatory democracy with a view to of involving the general public.

You can watch the kick-off video by ELIAMEP here.