The new EUSBSR Action Plan states that climate change aspects are to be mainstreamed into all 14 policy areas. This allows each policy area to tailor-make the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation, ensuring that climate aspects are properly taken into account.

Support in the mainstreaming process

To facilitate the climate mainstreaming process, the “Let’s Communicate!” project organised a capacity building workshop for policy area coordinators. The aim of the workshop was to provide a platform for discussing different ways of approaching climate mainstreaming as well as the challenges posed by the process. Climate consultants hired by “Let’s Communicate!” provided the premise for the workshop in the form of a synthesis of insights achieved by examining EUSBSR documents and interviewing policy area coordinators.

Policy areas call for more cooperation

The discussions highlighted that all policy areas are different, and therefore require unique approaches to climate action. For example, climate mitigation activities are more relevant for some policy areas, while others might focus on climate adaptation. It was agreed, however, that more dialogue and cooperation between policy areas would bring great value to the process of mainstreaming climate action. Several policy areas have already started conceptualising their climate actions, but many also called for more coordination in this process. Policy area coordinators were also urged to take advantage of platforms that are already provided for joint discussions about climate actions, such as the EU Macro-Regional Strategies Week.

Ensuring knowledge transfer

“Let’s Communicate!” will continue their support of climate mainstreaming. The consultants are currently analysing possible sources of funding for the climate actions of policy areas. A synthesis of the results will be provided to the policy area coordinators. To avoid knowledge loss, all information gathered by “Let’s Communicate!” as well as the insights achieved during the workshop will eventually be transferred to the Baltic Sea Strategy Point, which will take over the task of supporting climate mainstreaming within the EUSBSR in the future.