Joint Programming Initiatives (JPI) promote cooperation and coordination of research and development in Europe. The member states contribute actively and with national resources to several JPIs, which are thematically oriented towards the major societal challenges. They work closely with the European Commission, but act independently of it. JPI Climate (“Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe”) is an initiative of 17 EU member states and associated countries that have set themselves the goal of better aligning national programs through joint coordination of climate research and the promotion of new transnational research activities.
The CCCA's international networking platform makes an important contribution here by acting as an interface between funders and scientists, between national and international research agendas and research priorities. Through strategic research coordination, the Austrian research community, and in particular the members of the CCCA, should be better integrated into the international landscape of funding opportunities and thematically relevant initiatives. To this purpose, the networking platform for the Austrian research community is involved in the strategic research development of JPI Climate at a transnational level.
You can find more information about JPI Climate here.
Strategic coordination of Austrian contributions to JPI Climate: Representation on the JPI Climate Governing Board on behalf of the BMBWF
Since 2018, the representation on the JPI Governing Board has been carried out by the CCCA's international networking platform on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). This platform focuses on topics that are relevant in Austria and Europe. This not only gives the Austrian climate change research community access to transnational funding, but also to numerous networks and activities.
More information on the JPI Climate Governing Board can be found here.
Management of the JPI Climate AG EST (Action group “Enabling Societal Transformation”)
The operational and programmatic activities (such as the preparation of working papers or the conception of calls for proposals) of JPI Climate are carried out by Action Groups (AGs) and then approved by the Governing Board. The AG EST aims to promote the humanities and social sciences as key disciplines for sustainable social transformation in the context of climate change. The networking platform manages the AG EST on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF).
More information on the JPI Climate AG EST can be found here.
CSA Magica (Maximizing the synergy of European research Governance and Innovation for Climate Action)
MAGICA aims to accelerate the development, provision and exchange of knowledge from research and innovation to support policy-making and climate action. This is to be achieved through better coordination of current and future climate initiatives at transnational, national, regional and local levels and a more efficient use of resources. MAGICA is a four-year transnational project, launched in June 2022 and funded by Horizon EU, and is the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) for JPI Climate. The CCCA is in regular exchange within the International Networking Platform.
More information on CSA Magica can be found here.
Equinox Summit
The aim of Equinox is to accelerate the development and transfer of climate knowledge into policy in order to take urgent action. Actors in the public and private sector should be guaranteed access to up-to-date information. To this purpose, a process for systematically updating scientific information is to be established together with JPI Climate.
More information on the Equinox Summit can be found here.
JPI Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI CH)
Cultural heritage is increasingly threatened by climate change. Global agreements such as the Paris Agreement (2015), the Kunming and Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the potential of cultural heritage to play an active role in the transition to a more sustainable and resilient future. JPI CH supports transdisciplinary and convergent research approaches on cultural heritage and climate change. Collaboration between the research community across multiple regions is encouraged and contributes to knowledge advancement and policy change at the global level.
To this end, there was a Joint Call “Climate and Cultural Heritage” (2023), together with the Belmont Forum, which covered three complementary topics:
- The Impact of Climate Change on Cultural Heritage (Theme 1)
- Cultural Heritage as a Resource for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation (Theme 2)
- Sustainable Solutions for Heritage (Theme 3)
Among the 16 funded projects, there were three projects from Austrian partner institutions:
- CuHeMo (Cultural Heritage in Motion: Indigenous Knowledge and Mobile Livelihoods in Changing Climates) AT project partner: University of Vienna, Institute for Geography and Regional Research (consortium leading country: Netherlands; participating countries: Austria, Thailand)
- SUSTHERIT (Transformative urban heritage. Strategies for a sustainable European housing stock) Consortium-leading institution: Austrian Academy of Sciences (participating countries: France, Great Britain, Czech Republic)
- ARCA (Biolcultural Heritage in Arctic Cities: Resource for Climate Adaptation) AT project partner: University of Vienna, Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology (consortium leading country: USA; participating countries: France, Norway, Austria)
More information on JPI Cultural Heritage and Global Change can be found here.
Involvement in JPI Climate tenders in close cooperation with the FFG SOLSTICE
Climate change research is still strongly characterized by natural science disciplines, while research that focuses on social processes and the potential for change is often not prioritized. Yet humanity urgently needs knowledge about how societal change towards a climate-friendly and socially equitable future can take place. The JPI Climate call SOLSTICE addresses this major gap in the funding landscape. The call focuses on three central topics:
- Social Justice and Participation
- Sense-making, cultural meaning and risk perception in the context of climate change
- Transformative financial and economic systems
The role of the networking platform in SOLSTICE
From August 2018, the networking platform led the strategic development of SOLSTICE on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) (scoping, development of the thematic white paper as the basis for the call for proposals, coordination of the participating funding organizations, design of the content and criteria).
Austrian project participation
A total of 6.9 million Euros was mobilized from ten participating countries to fund the research projects. Of the 75 projects submitted, seven were selected for funding, two of which involve Austrian project partners.
You can find more information about SOLSTICE here.
AXIS
The transnational call AXIS (“Assessment of Cross (X) - sectoral climate Impacts and pathways for Sustainable transformation”) was conceived as a continuation of ERA4CS. AXIS aims to improve the coherence, integration and robustness of climate impact research by enabling transnational, cross-community and interdisciplinary research projects. This is intended to expand the knowledge base for the transformation towards a sustainable society. Three interrelated topics will be addressed:
- Cross-sector and cross-scale impact assessments for climate change
- Integration of biophysical climate change impact assessments using economic models
- Development of ways to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, taking into account interactions with the Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG 13 “climate action”)
The role of the networking platform at AXIS
The FFG is the Austrian partner in this call on behalf of the BMBWF, so the networking platform has focused primarily on preparing the Austrian scientific community for the call.
Austrian project participations
This transnational call for proposals was opened in 2017 and is funded by eleven organizations from ten countries. A total budget of 15-17 million Euros was made available for funding. In March 2018, ten of the 40 applications submitted were selected for funding by the international expert committee. Austria was extremely successful in this call for proposals and is involved in five of the ten funded projects.
More information on AXIS can be found here.
Past projects from JPI Climate