Transitioning to a new era: the urgency of collaboration in a disrupted world
In a time of escalating climate crises and global disruption, radical collaboration is not just an option but a necessity for accelerating systemic change and building a resilient, sustainable future, writes Climate KIC CEO, Kirsten Dunlop.
“I joined Climate KIC in January 2017, just as NASA confirmed that our planet was experiencing record-breaking warming for the third consecutive year. It was a time of profound global disruption. People in the UK had just voted to leave the EU, Donald Trump had won the US election against Hillary Clinton, and a brutal military crackdown on the Rohingya was happening in Myanmar.
I stepped into this role with a deep conviction in humanity’s ability to learn, adapt, and build a climate-resilient future. I still have that conviction – pessimism is a luxury we cannot afford – but I have come to understand more about the depth and breadth of the challenges we face, beyond what I had imagined, and what it will take to rise to them.
Climate KIC was born out of a bold vision: to create a community capable of innovating and accelerating solutions for the climate crisis. It is an investment Europe has made in its own future. As our relationship with our founder, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), changes, passing beyond its 15-year institutional mandate, and we step into a new chapter of history in many senses, I am reflecting on my own journey with the organisation — on what I’ve learned, what sets us apart, and the path that lies ahead.
15 years of climate innovation
Climate KIC is the result of a 15-year investment by the European Commission – an ambitious experiment in building a climate innovation asset. We have taken that investment seriously and have learned much in the process.
As a newly founded EIT Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC), our first chapter was about building the field – creating the networks, knowledge, platforms and tools needed to accelerate climate innovation in the European Union. We built a community of entrepreneurs, researchers, innovators, policymakers and investors committed to tackling climate change. We engaged universities and ran educational programmes in climate entrepreneurship and leadership. We worked with industry and university R&D on early-stage solutions development and standards for carbon removal, climate-smart agriculture, built environment and circular economy. We ran accelerators across Europe to incubate and support climate start-ups and ventures, launched Climathon to build momentum in cities, and created ClimateLaunchpad to encourage and support entrepreneurial climate action globally. Start-ups incubated by EIT Climate-KIC featured regularly in the Forbes 30 under 30.
Our second chapter focused on how to achieve transformative, systemic change. We realised that while supporting start-ups and technology-based innovation is crucial, individual solutions – no matter how brilliant – do not automatically lead to the deep, structural change needed to stop emissions and biodiversity loss, or adapt to the effects of a warming world. Engrained habits in venture development and in mainstream education are often at odds with the enabling conditions to get to an economy that operates within planetary boundaries. The real challenge lies in joining up innovations and connecting them into larger socioeconomic and political systems of transformation and meaning making.
That led us to focus on place – everyday contexts where systems change is visibly needed and becomes meaningful and real – working with cities, regions and industries to identify and integrate solutions, test new infrastructures and business models, shape effective policies, and support leaders and communities to realise their climate commitments.
We started with a call to action for place-based transformation, invoking the principle of ‘seeing is believing’ and offering long-term partnerships to show that transformation at scale is possible and beneficial. We called this approach Deep Demonstrations. In Leuven and Madrid, Gipuzkoa, Ireland and Slovenia, among others, we initiated systems innovation approaches to decarbonisation and adaptation, linking policy, finance, governance, technology, community engagement, visioning, learning and behavioural change. Since then, through the EU Cities Mission, we have been enabling ambitious commitments to whole-city decarbonisation and reimagining how cities finance climate transitions. We support Europe’s most vulnerable regions in climate resilience through the EU Climate Adaptation Mission and make connections to our work in soil regeneration, forestry and integrated landscape management. We have directed our expertise in climate entrepreneurship towards services for entrepreneurial support organisations in local communities and innovation clusters across Africa, Latin America and India. And through the Climate KIC Academy, we have been equipping decision-makers, for example in Ukraine, with the tools to lead system-wide transformations.
Today, we are entering a third chapter: drawing down on everything we’ve learned to accelerate transformation at scale, at a time when urgency, complexity, and opportunity are converging.
The challenges and opportunities ahead
Climate KIC goes forward now equipped with a remarkable richness of experience and learning, the power of collective intelligence and the leverage that comes with movement building: trust-based relationships and networks across the world, an evolving Climate KIC Community of organisations and individuals, an active diaspora, allies, advisors and alumni. We stand on the shoulders of so much, not least of which is the precedent of deploying innovation to implement bold climate policy in Europe with attention to social justice and cohesion.
Over the years, I have learned that tackling the climate crisis requires innovation in all its forms – to shift mindsets, governance structures, institutions and economic models and above all the stories we tell ourselves. Solutions need solutionists. This is how we help cities, regions, countries and industries today to find pathways to transformation and create learning ecosystems that break down silos and build capability.
Something is required to activate these elements together so that a sense of momentum and benefit can take hold. We call it orchestration – a partnership to lift ambition, support targeted interventions and build integrated solutions that tackle root causes and shift entire systems. Beyond mapping systems and fostering collaboration, we co-design multi-stakeholder initiatives that align resources and efforts for systemic transformation. We create real-world experiences through innovation – demonstrations of what is possible – and thus enable communities to shape viable, desirable futures for themselves.
As we step into the next chapter of our story, everything that we have learned about navigating uncertainty and working with complexity will be needed; this is a time to leverage every asset we have. The world is in the grip of profound disruption – again. Trump has returned to the White House, more determined than ever to cement power and unlock profit at the expense of action on climate, justice and inequality. Global temperatures continue to break records every year. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution are accelerating, their effects are intensifying, and the consequences are becoming more interconnected and unpredictable. Scientists are now openly admitting that they are struggling to fully explain the scale and speed of what’s happening. The most recent reports show that climate change’s destabilising effects will drive up migration and food prices, threatening economic and political upheaval in Europe. The Potsdam Institute research already points to economic damages of $38 trillion annually – 19% loss of global income – through to 2050.
What is clear to me today, is that we are venturing into uncharted territory – where feedback loops and cascading crises render traditional approaches to innovation inadequate.
The power of radical collaboration and partnerships
If you look at Ed Hawkins’ temperature data – the iconic blue-to-dark-red ‘climate stripes’ graph – you see us deep in the red. Where to from here? I am inspired by our partner, Futerra Solutions Union, who argue that we are beyond simply reverting to the “blue” of the past; our challenge now is to mobilise action to get us through the “purple” – a period of profound disruption – to a new ‘blue’: to some form of sustainable and stable prosperity. And how we go through the purple will determine not just what survives, but also the quality of that survival – socially and emotionally.
In this context, we are witnessing the breakdown of an outdated world order. I have been talking about the ‘messy middle’ where Climate KIC acts – in the implementation gap between what we need to do and the reality of where we are. That middle just got a lot messier. The intersection of climate change and social instability is deepening fractures in economies, governance, and public trust. Climate action, for some, has become a scapegoat for fear and political tension and that may worsen.
So, this is a time for jujitsu moves. Instead of losing hope, or falling into despair, I see this moment as an opportunity to double down on what we do best at Climate KIC: bringing together diverse actors, building momentum for change, and demonstrating real, systemic solutions that are good for business and good for life. The task ahead of us requires radical collaboration, mass mobilisation, and a new vision for progress – one that prioritises wellbeing, safety, and justice.
One thing I’ve learned over the past eight years is the unparalleled power of building community and working in partnership. The road ahead may be unclear, but our ingenuity, adaptability, trust-based collaboration and capacity to self-transform will be key to navigating through this uncertain future. Our actions can add up to more than the sum of our parts if we work together. This is exactly what we’re putting into practice with The Collaborative – a group of organisations that have chosen to set aside competition for funding in favour of supporting one another to achieve greater impact.
As we navigate this new chapter of independence with the Climate KIC team and community members, we are committed to activating the positive tipping points that will steer us toward a future where people thrive within planetary boundaries. Whether you’re already one of our partners or community members, or simply curious about how to support this mission, if you believe – like I do – that we don’t have the luxury of pessimism, I invite you to join us.”
Contact us at media@climate-kic.org is you have any questions.