The CSA Booster of Climate-KIC, a regional CSA network for Europe and new GACSA member

GACSA is pleased to welcome a new member: The CSA Booster of Climate-KIC.

In addition to becoming a new GACSA member, the CSA Booster will also join the group of the regional CSA alliances, platforms and networks and their joint work program under GACSA’s coordination.

Climate-KIC is the European Union’s largest public-private partnership addressing climate change through innovation. It is one of six Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the EU.

Its work currently focuses on four themes: Urban Transitions, Sustainable Production Systems, Decision Metrics and Finance, and Sustainable Land Use. 

The Climate-smart Agriculture Booster (CSA Booster) is one of its flagship programmes under the Sustainable Land Use theme. Its goal is to catalyse and accelerate the application, adoption and scaling of low-carbon (“climate-smart”) technologies in the European agricultural sector and beyond. It aims to become the leading European CSA innovation hub, community and collaboration platform.

The CSA Booster envisions an European agricultural sector that:

• will contribute significantly to climate change mitigation by reducing GHG emissions and securing or enhancing carbon sequestration;
• is adaptive and more resilient to climate change while maintaining high productivity;
• can reshape agriculture and food systems in Europe and drive global sustainable development

To achieve its mission, the CSA Booster will bring together a multi-stakeholder ecosystem of

partners to identify, assess, validate and facilitate the co-creation, implementation and scaling of CSA solutions. 

For more information, please visit their website: www.csabooster.climate-kic.org (still under development) 

Or contact Ms. Pan Pan, CSA Flagship Manager; Deputy Director, Sustainable Land Use: [email protected] 

Climate-KIC’s: Climate Change Adaptation Innovation Approach

Climate change adaptation’s place on the European political and economic agenda has risen sharply in recent years and continues to gain momentum and prominence. As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed a goal of ‘enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change, with a view to contributing to sustainable development and ensuring an adequate adaptation response in the context of [the agreement’s] temperature goal’. And this is being met with a set of associated targets focusing on adaptive capacity, finance, education and planning.

Climate-KIC's just launched its new adaptation innovation approach. This approach is focusing on two key areas.

1. Agriculture and forestry sectors and related value chains

2. Urban infrastructure

 To learn more about this approach the report is here. 

Free online course on “The Future of Farming: Exploring Climate Smart Agriculture”

The University of Reading is offering a free online course (MOOC) on “The Future of Farming: Exploring Climate Smart Agriculture”. The University of Reading is a core partner of the CSA Booster / Climate-KIC (CSAb), leading CSAb’s education activities. 

The course has been launched on 23 January 2017 in English. Additional sessions are to be scheduled, and the course will also be made available in Italian, French, German and Dutch this year.

For more information and to register interest: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/climate-smart-agriculture/1