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Portal of the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change

DIY Toolkit for Regional Climate Adaptation Planning

The DIY toolkit for European regional and local authorities to use in developing, implementing and monitoring their climate adaptation planning. It is aligned with the steps of the European Environment Agency’s RAST.

The toolkit comprises an Excel workbook with guidance, instructions and functioning templates that RLAs can use to progress each of the six steps of the RAST. 

The toolkit is designed so that the steps can be undertaken in sequence, with each step providing necessary information and outputs to support the following step. However, a user may begin at whatever step is relevant to the state of their regional or local authority's current adaptation planning

Templates are auto-linked between worksheets to avoid the need for duplicate data entry and thereby ensure the coherence of the workbook as a whole. Example rows are completed in each template to aid understanding of how they should be used. The structure of the templates can be adjusted to regional or local sectors.

MIP4Adapt Regional Adaptation Planning DIY Toolkit

Free Keywords

  • DIY toolkit
  • Climate risk assessment
  • Adaptation options assessment
  • Implementation plan
  • Monitoring and evaluation

Applications

The elements of the DIY toolkit were developed for use by the ca. 150 Mission Charter Signatories receiving MIP4Adapt’s technical assistance with climate adaptation planning between January 2023 and December 2025. The tool has been used e.g., in Valongo (Portugal), the Basque Country (Spain) and the Goriska Region (Slovenia). Each of the templates has been refined and assembled in the workbook by drawing upon the feedback received.

Strengths and weaknesses, comparative added value to other similar tools

Strengths

(+) The DIY toolkit provides proven templates that RLAs can use in developing, implementing and monitoring their climate adaptation planning, aligned to the six steps of the RAST.

(+) RLAs can use the toolkit to focus on those sectors, people, ecosystems and species, economic, social and cultural assets, and services relevant to their specific context.

(+) The toolkit can be used as a basis for securing input and validation from all relevant stakeholders and, ultimately, can act as a repository of information underpinning an RLAs’ climate adaptation planning. 

Weaknesses

(-) The use of the toolkit has been done so far with light-touch technical assistance from MIP4Adapt. As many RLAs are yet to progress any/all elements of their climate adaptation planning, they may lack the necessary confidence to use the toolkit without such support. 

Connected tools

  • The toolkit is aligned with the RAST and addresses key elements of the climate adaptation planning process. Each of the RAST steps is described by the EEA on the Mission Portal, with links to relevant EEA reports and other resources.
  • The Mission’s Tools Database offers a curated selection of reliable, up-to-date tools covering each step of the adaptation process many of which may be used in conjunction with this DIY toolkit.

Input(s)

Relevant data may be sourced from:

  • The Mission Portal’s Adaptation Dashboard (regarding Step 2)
  • The relevant national adaptation plan (regarding Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4)
  • The Mission’s database of EU and national funding sources (particularly regarding Step 5)
  • The owners of national or regional datasets relating to the sectors (and associated people, ecosystems and species, economic, social and cultural assets, and services) that the RLA wishes to address.

The toolkit allows for including stakeholders’ expert knowledge and citizens’ lived experiences to fill data gaps.

Output(s)

The toolkit provides the following outputs regarding each step of the RAST:

  • Step 1 – A list of information and datasets to support the assessment.
  • Step 2 – A table providing a qualitative assessment and ratings of climate vulnerabilities and risks within and across sectors, for two timeframes and two climate scenarios.
  • Step 3 – A table identifying climate adaptation options relevant to the climate vulnerabilities and risks by sector and across sectors.
  • Step 4 – A table qualitatively describing and rating the adaptation options by sector and across sectors, and a table prioritising and selecting the adaptation options as the focus for an RLA’s climate adaptation strategy/plan.
  • Step 5 – A table providing a high-level implementation plan for each of the selected adaptation options.
  • Step 6 – A table identifying relevant adaptation indicators for monitoring an RLA’s adaptation strategy or plan

Replicability: Cost/effort for (new) usage

The use of the toolkit is free, and it can be used in its current format by any RLA. 

However, RLAs are free to structure the workbook rows and filter the columns, as relevant to the sectors and associated people, ecosystems and species, economic, social and cultural assets, and services that they wish to address.

Website and maintenance

The toolkit and each of its templates have been refined in 2025 and are available here

Contact

Questions regarding the toolkit are best directed to the MIP4Adapt Helpdesk: supportatmip4adapt [dot] eu (support[at]mip4adapt[dot]eu)

Associated project(s)

Developed by MIP4Adapt under contract CINEA/2022/OP/0013/SI2.884597 funded by the European Union