Gemini Centre Global Impact

A new international research project coordinated by researchers at NTNU has been invited to prepare a Grant Agreement under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. The project, ReCAPS, is coordinated by Rolee Aranya together with Ryan Eddings at the Department of Architecture and Planning at the Faculty of Architecture and Design. It brings together partners from both the Global North and South, including researchers from SINTEF and Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The proposal was submitted to Horizon Europe under the call HORIZON-CL5-2025-06-D1-06 and focuses on strengthening cooperation between Europe and Africa in climate research.

Studying equity and justice in climate transitions

ReCAPS will investigate how international and national climate policies influence equity and justice outcomes at the local level. The research will examine how climate policies affect different communities and whether current transition pathways are socially fair and feasible in practice.

The project will analyze six urban case studies across different regions of the world:

• Zagreb (Croatia)
• Greater Nairobi (Kenya)
• Trondheim (Norway)
• Greater Lisbon (Portugal)
• Cape Town (South Africa)
• Lusaka (Zambia)

By comparing cities in Europe and Africa, the researchers aim to understand how climate policy implementation varies across different governance systems, development contexts, and societal conditions.

Assessing societal readiness for climate policy

A central goal of the project is to assess the societal readiness of urban climate policies to support equitable and just climate transitions. This includes examining the challenges faced by policymakers and implementing actors, such as:

• competing development priorities
• overlapping sectoral mandates
• institutional constraints
• existing climate vulnerabilities

Through its comparative approach, the project will analyse how global climate policies interact with national and local realities, based on a robust empirical evidence base.

Developing new tools for global climate policy analysis

ReCAPS also addresses the need to develop methodologies and tools to better capture how climate policies are implemented across different contexts, from Global North and South dynamics to variations between urban, peri-urban, and rural settings.

By incorporating these diverse perspectives, the project seeks to improve how climate transition pathways are designed and evaluated. The goal is to make future climate strategies more representative of the real-world challenges of implementation and their implications for equity and justice.

A model for global research collaboration

The project demonstrates the potential of international collaboration between researchers in Europe and the Global South. With partners from both academic institutions and research organizations, ReCAPS highlights how interdisciplinary cooperation can strengthen the evidence base for more equitable climate transitions.

As such, it also reflects the type of collaborative research initiatives that centers like Global Impact aim to foster between researchers at NTNU, SINTEF, and partners in LMIC.