Project INFIRE “INnovative FInancing solutions for climate planning of REsilient and carbon neutral living areas” started

May 31, 2024 CSEG

The INFIRE project (INnovative FInancing solutions for climate planning of REsilient and carbon neutral living areas) officially kicked off on 28th of March 2024! The Kick-off meeting took place online and all project partners, representing the 7 participating countries (Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Croatia and France) participated actively.

About the Project:

The Mediterranean is at the forefront of the fight against climate change, requiring cities and regions to act quickly and cooperate to prevent further negative environmental, social, and economic implications. INFIRE addresses two key aspects of the slow transition towards climate neutrality and climate adaptation in the Euro-MED region: low capacities of public authorities for the development and integration of strategic planning documents and the inability to properly evaluate and mobilize public and private capital for large-scale investment projects needed for reaching EU’s 2030 targets.

INFIRE gathers experienced partners with highly complementary skills that cooperate to establish a long-lasting support structure to build capacities of public authorities in the involved regions for developing, implementing, and monitoring holistic climate adaptation and carbon neutrality (CACN) solutions and policy instruments. INFIRE provides jointly developed and practical solutions in form of:

Green Finance Evaluation Toolkit for triggering financing of CACN projects and long-term strategies with innovative financing schemes
Enhanced and aligned strategic planning documents and public financing programmes to support the transition to resilience and carbon neutrality
Tailor-made curriculum and intensive capacity-building programme for public authorities of the Euro-MED region
Citizens’ engagement through co-creation process and civic-crowdfunding models, promoting behavioral change
Piloting 8 concrete and innovative CACN solutions for future replication and upscaling.

The originality of INFIRE project arises from a holistic bottom-up approach that addresses both the supply (public authorities as project developers) and demand side (financial institutions and citizens as investors) by understanding their drivers and shortcomings and bridging the gap through intensive cooperation with both sides and promotion of best available practices.

The project is co-funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Program and has a duration of 33 months, January 2024 – September 2026.