The United Nations Conference on Climate Change COP25 is taking place in Madrid, Spain from 2 to 13 December 2019, and the Interact network on Climate Change hosts a dedicated session named "Interreg versus Climate Change: results, challenges and opportunities" in the EU Pavillion on 7th December. The session is intended to show results of the Interreg programmes on climate change, targeted to a worldwide audience and specialist in the field.  

Climate change affects all territories. In the European Union, there are around 35 Interreg programmes which recognize this need. Each of the programmes offer funding opportunities for relevant public organisations, to develop and implement specific projects related to climate change. Interact has established a thematic community of programme experts working with climate change in order to enable exchange and stimulate inter-programme cooperation. One of these programmes is Danube, which has funded several projects on risk management to face climate change. The DTP input to the topic will be presented during this session of the conference, namely the way three of our projects face climate change through the prevention and management of floods (DAREFFORT and Danube Floodplain) and drought (DriDanube). Moreover, an ebook with examples of Interreg projects combatting climate change will be produced for the event, including some examples from DTP.

The COP25 conference as a whole is designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland last year, a key objective is to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The conference furthermore serves to build ambition ahead of 2020, the year in which countries have committed to submit new and updated national climate action plans. The event will also showcase the wealth of climate action undertaken by non-Party Stakeholders and help galvanize the action of regions, cities, business, investors and civil society. The UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 will take place under the Presidency of the Government of Chile and will be held with logistical support from the Government of Spain.

We invite you to join the Interreg session in this major event COP25 conference and to know more how Danube Transnational Programme and other Interreg programmes contribute to fight against climate change.