Three new projects submitted by AURA-EE selected by the Interreg Alpine Space programme

2022.11.16

On 19 October, the selection committee of the Interreg Alpine Space programme selected 14 projects, two of which will be led by AURA-EE: one on the creation of "Alpine hydrogen valleys" and the other on the reinforcement of adaptation capacities to climate change. A third project on risk management in the face of extreme events and resilience to climate change will include AURA-EE as a partner.

With some fifteen European projects underway per year, AURA-EE is the most experienced regional agency in this field and has acquired a unique expertise in the region. In 12 years, the agency has involved 150 actors in the region, raised 8.5 million euros of European co-financing and generated 130 million euros of investments.

The latest European projects won by the agency are financed by Interreg Alpine Space. This programme enables the seven Alpine countries to find solutions to common problems, around three main priorities: resilience to climate change; carbon neutrality and respect for resources; and innovation and digital transformation for an ecological Alpine region. As these priorities echo the missions of AURA-EE, the agency submitted three projects in the last call for proposals, all of which were selected.
 

AMETHyST (A MultipurposE and Tran sectorial HYdrogen Support for decarbonized alpine Territories)

The objective of AMETHyST is to support the deployment of local green hydrogen ecosystems in the Alps, where several green hydrogen applications are combined in a geographical area with high hydrogen potential.

It will pave the way for the development of "Alpine Hydrogen Valleys" and a post-carbon Alpine lifestyle, by strengthening communities' knowledge in this field and implementing pilot projects with the support of technical actors and innovation clusters.

As many Alpine territories have a tourism-oriented economy, the project will focus on decarbonising this sector of activity.

The project brings together 10 European partners including local authorities, local energy agencies and clusters from the Alpine region, including TENERRDIS.

ADAPTNOW (ADAPTation capacity strengthening for highly affected and exposed territories in the Alps NOW)

ADAPTNOW will focus on strengthening the adaptive capacity of territories that are highly affected and exposed to the effects of climate change. The objective is to implement and evaluate available climate adaptation and risk mitigation management tools and practices, assess adaptation plans and develop climate services to support territorial actors. The challenge of ADAPTNOW is to make risk and adaptation planning more integrated, collaborative and inclusive.

The consortium of partners decided to focus on the predominant risks in the Alps: heat waves, heavy rainfall/flooding, gravitational landslides and forest fires. It identified key sectors for impact assessment such as urban infrastructure, forestry, tourism and health.

The 12 partners in the project include local energy agencies, local authorities and research institutions, including two other structures located in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Grenoble Alpes Métropole and the French National Research Institute for Agriculture (INRAE).

X-RISK-CC (how to adapt to changing weather eXtremes and associated compound and cascading RISKs in the context of Climate Change)

This project aims to develop risk management practices and adaptation options to better cope with extreme weather events and increase resilience to climate change.

The project brings together policy and decision makers at different levels with scientific institutions to scale up existing risk reduction and adaptation systems, while taking into account local specificities, uncertainties and barriers at a more global level. A systemic perspective of high-risk events, impacts and risks, coupled with newly developed data, methods and tools, will be developed.

The project brings together 11 partners, including local authorities, local energy agencies, universities and research institutes.

These three projects are in addition to CERVINO, the "small scale" Intereg Alpine Space project won by the agency in September.

CERVINO is a smaller scale project in terms of its duration, the number of partners involved and the budget allocated.  It aims to facilitate the exchange of energy data within the Alpine Space, in order to optimise decision-making processes. This will be achieved by setting up systems for data collection, management, updating and exploitation. Within the project, AURA-EE will focus on the optimisation of data visualisation, using TerriSTORY®, a tool created by AURA-EE to help manage the transition of territories. The project is led by the EURAC research centre and has a total of five partners.

All these projects will start by the end of 2022.