A meeting organized jointly by the Interreg Central Europe and Interreg Danube Region Programmes on 11 April 2025 intended to reinforce synergies and partnerships between actions funded by the two programs in the field of climate change adaptation. As one of the ten projects invited to participate, BeReady presented its objectives, solutions and achievements thus far. The project topic – urban heat islands (UHI) and cities’ preparedness and mitigation capacity – is gaining importance due to the global warming and climate change but is yet to take center place in urban adaptation strategies. The approach taken by BeReady combines UHI risk and vulnerability assessment, online assessment tools, city pilots and mutual learning and training to address UHI and protect vulnerable populations. Projects featured in the meeting, for example, Ready4Heat, CICADA4CE, pursue similar objectives to mitigate climate change; we’ll be exploring opportunities for collaboration in the next phase of activities. This September, the BeReady cities from 10 Danube region countries will be hosting peer review visits for evaluation of their UHI mitigation pilots and will gladly welcome representatives of the sister projects. Jointly developing policy inputs and recommendations for improving the strategic planning efforts for climate adaptation in the Danube region is another area for potential collaboration that was identified in the meeting.

As BeReady moves into the second year of implementation, we look forward to strengthening our partnerships and sharing insights with like-minded allies for a greener, climate-resilient Danube area.

This project is supported by the Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union.