How can Mediterranean cities move from testing climate adaptation solutions to implementing them at scale? And how can they mobilise the financing needed to turn successful pilots into long-term action?
These questions will be at the heart of the session “Cooling, Greening and Financing Mediterranean Cities for Climate Adaptation”, organised in the framework of the Interreg Euro-MED Green Living Areas Mission at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2026 in Barcelona.
📅 3 November 2026
🕕 18:05–18:50
📍 Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona
From innovative solutions to implementation at scale
Mediterranean cities are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, flash floods, droughts and other climate-related risks. Across Europe, projects are testing new approaches to make urban areas cooler, greener and more resilient — from nature-based solutions and urban greening to the transformation of public spaces and buildings. The challenge now is to move beyond individual pilots and create the conditions for these approaches to be replicated, financed and implemented at a larger scale. The session will bring together three projects from the Interreg Euro-MED Green Living Areas Mission — HEATSAFE, URWAN and EnerCmed — and ADAPT-FIN, a Horizon Europe project linked to the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. Together, they will share concrete experiences and perspectives on climate adaptation in cities and territories, while opening the discussion on how successful approaches can be replicated and financed.
Connecting solutions, cities and finance
Through concrete examples, the participating projects will showcase different approaches being developed and tested to address climate adaptation challenges in Mediterranean cities. Building on these experiences, the discussion will highlight some of the key conditions and challenges for moving from pilot actions towards wider implementation, including the question of how cities can mobilise financing for climate adaptation. By bringing together practical experiences from projects and expertise on climate adaptation finance, the session will offer a space to exchange lessons, identify common challenges and reflect on what is needed to take successful solutions further.
The session is organised by MedCities and EMEA in the framework of the Interreg Euro-MED Green Living Areas Mission.
👉 Are you attending Smart City Expo World Congress 2026? Join us on 3 November to discover concrete climate adaptation solutions and discuss how they can be taken further in Mediterranean cities.
We can provide members of our community interested in attending the session with a special code for a free pass to access the Congress.
Find out more about the session
