‘Continuing with business-as-usual means not staying within the agreed 1.5oC limit, not adapting to climate change, a global collapse in wildlife, and not meeting any of the other UN Sustainable Development Goals. Innovation is about creating a new way of doing business that gets us on track to a sustainable future’. That’s the best explanation...

The city of Brest in France is vulnerable to sudden flooding caused by heavy rainfall, made worse by climate change and the roads, pavements and other impermeable surfaces in the city. As part of its activities in GrowGreen, the city is updating its stormwater management plan to better manage rain and reduce flood risk. Installing...

“The link between social well-being, mental health and green cities is very strong, we need to use this data more effectively in our efforts on promoting nature-based solutions” Eva Mayerhofer, Lead Environment Specialist at the European Investment Bank  Today the world population stands at 7.7 billion. In the next 30 years it is expected to...

The GrowGreen team met in June in Wroclaw’s beautiful old town hall to discuss progress in developing demonstration projects and strategies for nature-based solutions and to find opportunities to share knowledge and experiences. To start the meeting, the team visited the sites of the nature-based solutions demonstration projects that will be developed in the Olbin...

The city of Modena, Italy, is at risk of localised flooding due to its canal network and proximity to two rivers. As part of its work in GrowGreen, the city will incorporate nature-based solutions into its plan for hydraulic risk management. The GrowGreen team in Modena has been working on environmental assessments of urban spaces,...

Securing sufficient long-term financing for nature-based solutions is frequently a challenge for city governments, which limits the extent to which cities can successfully adapt to climate change. In March, GrowGreen hosted the European conference on innovative financing for creating green cities to bring together stakeholders to jointly find solutions. Experts in valuing nature and the...