Who we are
EIT Climate-KIC is Europe’s leading climate innovation agency and community, supporting cities, regions, countries and industries to meet their climate ambitions through systems innovation and place-based transformations.
A just, climate-resilient, beautiful future is within our reach. To get there we need a profound shift in mindsets and unprecedented collective action. We need to be ambitious enough to change our ways of living and urgently transform whole places and industries. We need systems change now.
Why we do this
The social, political and environmental impacts associated with each tenth of a degree of temperature rise increase volatility and complexity, as well as opportunity. Isolated approaches and single-point solutions are not enough to address this.
We must act now to achieve transformation at the scale and speed needed to impact the climate crisis, by testing, learning and sharing comprehensive, systemic climate change solutions.
Vision
A just, climate-resilient, beautiful and sustainable future is possible if we – the generations alive now – put our minds to it; and innovation is key to creating this future.
Mission
EIT Climate-KIC’s mission is to catalyse systemic change for climate action through innovation. Our approach is holistic and systemic and place-based. We integrate sustainable economic development, social change, new institutions and technology solutions to advance climate mitigation, adaptation and environmental regeneration. We see these elements as interdependent.
What we do
EIT Climate-KIC orchestrates place-based transformations that ground climate action at the local level. By prioritising solutions developed and implemented in local contexts, we build momentum and inspire action. We make systems transformation meaningful by enabling change in the places where people live and work, creating a positive feedback loop for change.
Together with our partners, we generate, implement and integrate climate solutions by mobilising finance, testing business models, and opening pathways for institutional change and behavioural change.
Our history
We were created by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in 2010 to be a knowledge innovation community (KIC) focused on climate change.
Over the last decade, we have successfully collaborated with over 400 partners in 60 countries around the world, managing €80-100M annually in grant budgets to foster climate entrepreneurship, nurture education and learning, and drive innovation to mitigate climate change and enable adaptation.