Storytelling for encouraging climate action in Athens, Greece

Key Learnings

• Awareness Raising: A climate story is a powerful way to raise awareness and build a sense of ownership about heat-related risks and actions among municipal workers and citizens.
• Horizontal coordination: Involving different municipal departments helped create a more complete and collaborative story about heat. The visual format made the message more relatable and engaging, reaching a wider audience than traditional communications.
• Overcoming Challenges with Collaboration and Scientific Data: Working closely with the Resilience Office and utilising outputs from existing scientific studies (e.g., urban climate modelling) ensured institutional buy-in and the application of credible data sources.
• Identifying Risks and Creating Targeted Responses: The story highlighted indoor heat exposure in vulnerable homes and linked it to city-level planning priorities, helping shape more targeted responses to the urban heat risk.

Summary

Athens uses storytelling to make climate risks feel more relatable, visible, and actionable for everyone. The climate story illustrates the lived experience of heat, highlights vulnerability in different areas, and connects these insights with planned actions by the city, such as greening strategies, medical support, climate shelters and behavioural advice during heatwaves. By weaving together science, local knowledge, and effective communication, the city is fostering a more inclusive and strategic approach to heat resilience. The climate story has helped raise awareness, engage stakeholders, and support the implementation of targeted urban adaptation measures. It is a replicable example for other cities looking to turn data into meaningful action through human-centred storytelling.

Contact

Leon Kapetas, Lead for Climate Resilience, Resilient Cities Network
lkapetasresilientcitiesnetwork [dot] org (lkapetas[at]resilientcitiesnetwork[dot]org)

Eva Boon, Climate Researcher / Advisor, Climate Adaptation Services
evaclimateadaptationservices [dot] com (eva[at]climateadaptationservices[dot]com)

Sofia Papageorgiou, REACHOUT project manager, City of Athens
so [dot] papageorgiouathens [dot] gr (so[dot]papageorgiou[at]athens[dot]gr); sofia [dot] papageorgiou6gmail [dot] com (sofia[dot]papageorgiou6[at]gmail[dot]com)