How we work

Making an impact

The world is in a race against despair and division. We face the greatest array of challenges and complexities humanity has ever known. At the same time, this is a moment of unprecedented opportunity. 

A just, climate-resilient, beautiful and sustainable future is possible if we – the generations alive now – put our minds to it. The more positive choices we make, the more we trigger exponential rates of regeneration and transformation. This will be the decade for unprecedented and unexpected partnerships. We will need explore every possible solution with the courage and audacity to do things differently.

Climate KIC embraces the opportunity to accelerate integrated action on climate, nature, economy and community for the good of all. Crucially, through example and demonstration of new possibilities, innovation can provide the hope, courage and imagination to act.

Impact in the ‘messy middle’

To bridge the gap between climate ambition and current reality, we must embrace the complexity and unpredictability of the ‘messy middle:’ the place of on-going tensions and altering timeframes between where we are and where we need to be.

Climate KIC orchestrates place-based transformation through innovation. We support cities, regions, countries and industries to
navigate the ‘messy middle’ by implementing systems innovation to meet climate ambitions and adapt to altered climate conditions. For us, innovation is more than technology. Technology is crucial, but policy and regulation, governance, organisation, finance and ecosystem services all present opportunities for innovation. By showing what transformation means in practice, we can make change at the scale needed to halt global warming and, in time, heal the effects of climate change.

For more on our 2024-2030 strategic choices, download our strategy, Transformation, with Urgency. 

OUR STRATEGY 2024 – 2030

OUR STRATEGIC AGENDA 2021 -2027

Our Strategy

Transition Goals

We are deeply committed to the transformation of 400+ cities, regions and countries in Europe and beyond into climate-resilient, carbon-neutral and ecologically sustainable places.

Area of impact

Transition Goals

By 2030, we expect to see the following key signals of transformation in the places where we work
  1. Novel partnerships of leaders, citizens, the private sector, civil society and public institutions are mobilised towards delivering climate targets in a just way.
  2. Public, private and institutional investments averaging approximately EUR 10-15 billion per city are leveraged and allocated for ambitious large-scale programmes and
    practice on the ground.
  3. Shifts in prevailing behaviours, norms, narratives and values.
  4. Active citizen engagement in the design,
    testing and scaling of local and global solutions.

New relationships and radical collaboration will guide us to work effectively in the ‘messy middle’. By 2030, we will help bring about collaboration outcomes in the places we work, including:
  1. Greater diversity in who we and our partners engage with, particularly for our work
    impacting marginalised communities and citizens of the Global South.
  2. Bold, distributed and commons-orientated leadership of individuals and institutions.
  3. ‘Learning by doing’ innovations such as policy labs, new financial models, new technology
    adoption, and new market development at scale change incentives structures, opportunities and norms.
  4. Dissemination of insights gleaned from transformative pilots and large-scale demonstrations, contribute to iterative experimentation across and within distinct
    geographies.
Our Strategy

Ways of triggering systemic change

We engage in diverse but complementary work, that has both a sense of the whole and of the parts. 

Through place-specific Deep Demonstrations and other place-based work, we show that transformation is not only possible, but serves local needs. Change is complex and must be made meaningful by working at the hyperlocal scale and at the same time connecting that learning to regional, national and global scales.

We work through innovation and entrepreneurship: experimenting, designing, developing and tracking action with unexpected actors and unknow, things, making lessons available.

We attract and manage the resources for innovation, deploying public and private funds and new ways of blending finance for impact.

We work as a community comprised of individuals, consortia, clusters and subcommunities who are united in a shared purpose. Together, we learn, connect, collaborate, facilitate funding and investment access, influence, strengthen new market development and celebrate location solutions.

Current reports

Our results

Since 2010, Climate KIC has focused on creating a groundswell of innovation to tackle climate change. We are directing the full force of our community and our huge supply of innovation to the demand for change from city authorities, industry leaders, regional and national governments and citizens groups. Download our latest annual report and impact report to discover the dimensions of our work.

2022 ANNUAL REPORT

2022 Impact Report