System innovation to address the urgency, scale and complexity of climate action: Climate KIC’s European vision and experience

Juxtaposing incremental solutions can no longer respond to the climate emergency. This requires integrated approaches that take into account the interdependencies between actors and combine the levers of transformation—technological, behavioral, regulatory, and financial. The European Commission has created five Missions under Horizon Europe, reinforcing the coherence of objectives and means in support of the Green Deal. Notably, the “Smart and climate-neutral cities” and “Adaptation to climate change” Missions support cities, metropolitan areas, communities and regions that are aiming for decarbonization and climate resilience by 2030. In this paper, we discuss some structuring projects for these Missions, and other systemic innovation initiatives anchored in specific places, in particular Deep Demonstration programs led by Climate KIC in support of national and regional governments.