5th Sustainability Conference

Transformative Innovation for better Climate Change Adaptation: Enabling Conditions and Future Perspectives

Lessons from empirical studies on five European territories 

There is a growing scientific consensus that Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) – the process of adjustment to climate-induced impacts, underway or expected - is not being implemented at anything like the scale, depth and speed needed to avoid dangerous climate-related risks. Moreover, due to the complex impacts of climate change, their strong interrelatedness and profound societal implications, solutions adopted in the past to address weather-induced disasters are unlikely to work well in the future.

The thesis of an analysis on this subject undertaken for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), between December 2022 and April 2024, was that transformative - even radical - adaptation solutions are now needed to avoid much worse climate-related damage and higher costs in the future. The key question investigated was: ‘How to harness the potential of the emerging “Transformative Innovation” paradigm to bring about more effective CCA strategies and actions?’ The two independent experts who carried out this study developed a conceptual framework, which postulates that eight key features of ‘Transformative Innovation’ can act as enabling conditions for the design and implementation of CCA strategies of the necessary high transformative ambition.

The experts went on to deploy this framework on empirical studies for JRC based on field research in five European territories: the region of Gorenjska, in Slovenia; the whole of Iceland; the Northern Netherlands; the City of Turku, in Southwest Finland; and the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, in France. Their present paper, which is not itself funded by JRC, compares the strengths and weaknesses of these five territories’ progress towards fulfilment of the eight enabling conditions. The paper details the considerable variation between these territories’ respective performance in this regard, and concludes that none of them can be said to be fully successful. For each enabling condition, the authors then suggest numerous practical ways forward, which could potentially be followed by any territory seeking to move decisively towards genuinely ‘Transformative CCA’.

The University of Akureyri Cafeteria offers soup, salad, sandwiches, and dairy products. It provides a welcoming space for students, staff, and guests to enjoy a meal or coffee together. On Fridays, the cafeteria is open from 8:00 to 14:00.

Moderator: Helga Guðrún Númadóttir

13:00-13:15 | Presentation
Food (Dis)Education: Are Regulatory Standards Encouraging Corporations to Shift the Blame Down the Food Supply Chain?
Giulia Petrachi, University of Oslo, Norway

13:15-13:30 | Presentation
Multidimensional Assessment of Sustainable Development Index and Human Development Index Using Topsis and Bilinear Ordering
Cihan Çalıkoğlu, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland

13:30-13:45 | Presentation
The State of Offshore Wind Development in the Texas Gulf Coast
Jenna A. Lamphere with (co-presenters) Elizabeth Nyman, April Garza, and Lauren Bothwel, Texas A&M University, Galveston, United States

13:45-14:00 | Discussion Session

Moderator: Audrey Matthews

14:00 - 14:10 | Poster 4
NO2 Emissions Estimation Using OMI Satellite Data - A case study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Vo Thi Tam Minh, University of Science, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

14:10 - 14:20 | Poster 5
An overview of the role of green parks and forest for social-ecology wellbeing in South East Asia
Ariel Toh, Marcharh Initiative Centre for Sustainable Solutions, United Kingdom

14:20 – 14:30 | Poster 6
The growing impacts of climate change on the daily lives of the urban poor: A compelling case study of a vulnerable community in Delhi
Gulshan, Development Studies, Ignou New Delhi, India

Moderator: Audrey Matthews

14:30 - 14:45 | Presentation
Valorization of food waste - Microwave-assisted pectin hydrolyses for biofuel production
Garðar Kári Garðarsson, University of Akureyri

14:45 - 15:00 | Presentation 
‘We Are Caribou People’: Gwich'in Rights and Responsibilities to the Porcupine Caribou Herd
Renata Colwell, University of Akureyri, Iceland

15:00 - 15:15 | Presentation 
Stefansson Student Sustainability Award Ceremony
Niels Einarsson, Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland

15:15 - 15:30 | Presentation 
Redirecting phosphorus from wastewater - Screening for phosphate accumulating bacteria from clam guts for potential wastewater remediation applications
Ísold Egla Guðjónsdóttir, University of Akureyri, Iceland

15:30 - 15:45 | Discussion Session

Yvonne Höller, conference chair, University of Akureyri, Iceland

Thank you for joining us at the 5th Sustainability Conference. We appreciate your participation and valuable contributions, and we look forward to seeing you again next year!