Climate value of urban trees (LIFE CLIVUT)

The EU strategy on adaptation to climate change calls for cities to set city-level targets for emissions reduction, plan and implement urban investments, and develop management strategies on urban resilience to climate change. LIFE CLIVUT will develop an urban green asset strategy for Mediterranean medium-size cities and implement it in four pilot cities: two in Italy, one in Greece and one in Portugal. The strategy, designed along an ecosystem-based approach, will: 1) improve urban ecosystem adaptation capacity; 2) maximise the climate mitigation potential of urban green assets; 3) bring biodiversity and nature conservation benefits, improving human safety, health and wellbeing. In addition, the project aims to develop and test a decision support system which gives urban planners and other stakeholders the quantitative models and projections they need to design and manage urban green assets. Citizens will be involved in the design and implementation of the urban climate green asset strategy by communicating the benefits of urban green spaces, building a participatory process, and encouraging them to help monitor and manage public and private green areas. Finally, urban business actors will be engaged in developing the strategy by raising awareness of the finances of business-related emissions, climate-responsible business policy and related savings, involving them in the participatory process, and developing pilot incentive systems.