From Research to Impact: Insights from the IMPETUS Climate Solutions Forum

On April 23, 2025, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) hosted a webinar as part of the IMPETUS project entitled “IMPETUS Climate Solutions Forum: Turning Research into Impact for a Resilient Future,” to spotlight climate adaptation solutions and collaborative approaches. Experts across different sectors presented innovative tools and strategies, from wetland innovations and reforestation technologies to digital twins and behavioral change in tourism.

Several themes addressed key challenges and opportunities, including the economic risks of climate change, the use of scientific data to anticipate climate events, and the future of tourism in regions with changing weather patterns. Each theme highlighted a crucial aspect of IMPETUS: stakeholder engagement and solution replicability.

Innovative Insurance Products for Agriculture

As excess rain and other weather hazards become more prevalent, research is being conducted on how to best protect crops. Fabio Pilotti, a technical hydrologist at WaterJade, presented their correlation analysis between meteorological and insurance data to support innovative insurance products for agriculture. Using weather data, Waterjade quantified how vulnerable certain crops are to hazards such as excess rain, using claims data to determine economic losses. The project’s results include a vulnerability index for all of Italy, creating useful insights and findings that could be used to inform approaches for other types of crops and weather hazards.

Behavioral Change for Climate-Resilient Tourism

Tourism is one of the largest sectors facing climate change risks. The 600km long Catalan coast in north-eastern Spain, for example, is a hotspot for tourism, economic activities, and urbanization, but impacts from higher temperatures, water availability, and beach erosion make the region increasingly vulnerable. Anna Boqué Ciurana, a researcher at Rovira i Virgili University, shared their unique methodology on inspiring behavioral change for climate-resilient tourism.

By creating workshops in tourist destinations on the Catalan Coast, they analyzed how stakeholders perceive the effects of different climate events. For example, the presence of wind could impact a planned guided visit to a beach dune, resulting in a potential economic loss. Knowing wind could affect touristic activity in the area, local decision makers can adapt, like advertising dates when the activity is better suited or proposing a change in activity that fits the weather. The adaptability of this methodology means it can be employed to benefit many other tourist destinations.

Heat Awareness System

In the Netherlands, overheating may not be the first issue that comes to mind. However, as global temperatures rise, extended periods of high temperatures will become more common. With an initial focus on the Zeeland province in the Netherlands, home to the largest port in Europe, Jasper van Lieshout and his team at Nelen & Schuurmans created a heat awareness tool. The platform, now a foundation for national policy in the Netherlands, allows stakeholders to measure how different climate scenarios and urban planning decisions will affect local heat stress. By using accurate climate data and integrating it into a 2D digital Twin environment, the system delivers precise assessments while also remaining user-friendly.

Early-Warning System for Geological and Avalanche Risk Sites

Beyond the Arctic Circle, in the northernmost mainland region of Norway, the IMPETUS Arctic demonstration site in Troms and Finnmark County shares its eastern borders with Sweden, Finland, and Russia. With fewer than 250,000 residents in more than 70,000 km2 of land, communities are facing an increased risk of slush flows, rapid mass movements of very wet snow. As a result of warmer and wetter periods, slush flows are becoming increasingly common and damaging infrastructure.

Knowing that data and risk reduction for snow avalanches are more prevalent than for slush flows, Christopher D’Amboise and colleagues at the Arctic University of Norway are developing a greater understanding of how to mitigate these climate events. Their solution is a workflow and a method for creating hazard indication maps, focusing on various slush flow types.

Tools for Climate Adaptation Pathways: Social Cost-Benefit Analysis and Risk Factor Calculator

Developed by the Athens University of Economics and Business for the IMPETUS project, the Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA) tool and the Risk Factor calculator are two tools helping regions develop cost-effective adaptation pathways. Dr. Conrad Landis, a post-doctoral researcher, explained the functionality of both. The Social Cost-Benefit Analysis tool allows users to calculate net values of expected costs and benefits for different interventions. This supports decision-making by enabling comparative evaluation of interventions and prioritizing those that are high impact and cost-effective. The Risk Factor Calculator works closely with the SCBA to compile different interventions based on their hidden risks during implementation and potential for long-term feasibility. Both tools can be used to support upstream decision-making and are open-source and easily adoptable across Europe.

Below-Sea-Level Multifunctional Wetland to Adapt to Sea-level Rise

The Catalonia coast is facing climate change pressures such as sea level rise, lack of sediment flow, and habitat loss. These challenges are impacted by rice farming, present in deltas around the world, and one solution involves managing pollutants from rice farming.

Nil Alvarez and other researchers at Eurecat tested an innovative wetland systems filter with sand and biochar to remove pollutants from the rice system to the ecosystem. Faye Milly Weaver at the Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation collaborated with Eurecat to determine how the solution fits into the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s nature-based solution framework, a useful metric for evaluating its replicability and sustainability. Though their solution was tested in Catalonia, Spain, it may be useful for other deltas with rice fields.

Reforestation and Biodiversity Monitoring Tool

The region of Attica in Greece, which includes the capital, Athens, has approximately 3.7 million inhabitants. Its hot, dry climate, coupled with increasing impacts from climate change, has caused severe challenges. In fact, Stylianos Manoudakis, Research Associate at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, reported that the Attica region of Greece lost 37% of its forest due to wildfires.

The IMPETUS project supports mitigation strategies by monitoring forest degradation and identifying which forest species are present. Researchers have developed a spatial awareness software for actors to display this information and suggest specific restoration policies for actors in forest restoration.

About IMPETUS

Launched in 2021, IMPETUS is an EU project funded through the Horizon 2020 program, focused on transforming climate commitments into tangible actions that enhance resilience against climate change. With a consortium of 32 partner organizations from nine countries, the project tests solutions in real-world locations, working with local communities, businesses, and policymakers to create strategies to improve climate change decision-making. Every IMPETUS demonstration site has established Resilience Knowledge Boosters. These hubs facilitate stakeholder collaboration to co-design, assess, and implement climate change strategies.

For more information on IMPETUS: https://climate-impetus.eu/

Missed the webinar? Watch the recording here.