About Climate KIC
Who we are
We are Climate KIC, Europe’s leading climate innovation agency and community. We are here to help create climate-resilient societies and fight the climate breakdown, building better futures for local communities, globally.
Working hand-in-hand with countries, regions, cities and businesses across the globe, we use innovation to mobilise systems change and bridge the gap between climate commitments and current reality. Together with our partners, we orchestrate solutions and facilitate learning to fuel faster and more ambitious climate action.
Why we do this
The social, political and environmental impacts associated with each tenth of a degree of temperature rise increase volatility and complexity, as well as opportunity. Isolated approaches and single-point solutions are not enough to address this.
We must act now to achieve transformation at the scale and speed needed to impact the climate crisis, by testing, learning and sharing comprehensive, systemic climate change solutions.
Vision
A just, climate-resilient, beautiful future.
Mission
To catalyse systemic change for climate action through innovation, radical collaboration and place-based approaches.
What we do
Climate KIC orchestrates place-based transformations that ground climate action at the local level. By prioritising solutions developed and implemented in local contexts, we build momentum and inspire action. We make systems transformation meaningful by enabling change in the places where people live and work, creating a positive feedback loop for change.
Together with our partners, we generate, implement and integrate climate solutions by mobilising finance, testing business models, and opening pathways for institutional change and behavioural change.
Our history
In 2010, we were launched as one of the first three Knowledge Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). Over 15 years, we received EUR 720 million in funding and strategic guidance from EIT. In 2025, our original partnership with the EIT reached the end of its cycle and we move into a new chapter in our history.
Climate KIC relaunched as a not-for-profit foundation and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with EIT, solidifying our continued collaboration to boost climate innovation in Europe and beyond.
This evolution of Climate KIC’s structure and relationship with EIT strengthens our unique position and work around the world as we advise and collaborate with intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, EU institutions, national and regional governments, cities, corporate companies, startups, civil society organisations, research powerhouses and leading universities.
