Background The Marche (IT) and Jadranska Hrvastska (Hr) regions, the two project target areas, are located in the Adriatic-Ionian macroregion and are characterised by similar territorial and climatic conditions. Over the last decades, the two regions have been heavily affected by climate change trends, entailing mainly decreased precipitation and increased temperatures. These trends are expected to continue in the future, with an increased frequency of extreme weather events (heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfalls) and an even lower annual precipitation and river flow. In parallel, Mediterranean countries have been shown to have lower adaptive capacity when it comes to adapting to these changes in terms of economic, technical and institutional skills, as well as socio-economic conditions. The combination of the two factors (higher climate change impact and lower adaptive capacity) makes the Mediterranean region - and within it the Adriatic-Ionian macroregion - one of the most vulnerable areas in Europe, subject to risks of landslides and flooding inland and sea-level rise and erosion on the coast. Objectives The main objective of the Life SEC Adapt project is to increase climate resilience of local authorities in Italy and Croatia and help them prevent and adapt to climate change impacts by mainstreaming and integrating climate objectives into their local policies and practices through the adhesion to the ‘Mayors Adapt’ initiative. The ultimate objective is to adopt and upgrade the model of Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) in order to improve climate governance, making it a best practice model for the development of a climate change adaptation process in local authorities under the coordination of regional authorities and development agencies. Specific project objectives are to: Increase awareness of local and regional decision-makers in 17 municipalities in Italy and Croatia of the importance and urgency of adopting climate change adaptation strategies. This will be achieved by implementing a capacity-building process involving the exchange of best practices and lessons learnt by more experienced municipalities from Greece, Spain and Italy; Reduce the knowledge gap of local and regional administrators on local climate vulnerabilities and risks. This will help them to develop effective climate change adaptation strategies and plans to prevent and react to extreme climate events in the short term and reduce social, economic and environmental impacts in the long term; Have the 17 involved municipalities sign and adopt climate change adaptation strategies and plans in the framework of the ‘Mayors Adapt’ initiative by updating existing sustainable energy actions plans (SEAPs); Set up and test an energy and climate monitoring system (SEC Adapt monitoring tool). This will enable the verification of the state of implementation of the selected mitigation and adaptation actions in order to redefine the objectives of the climate strategies of the municipalities involved. It will also support the monitoring required within the ‘Mayors Adapt’ and ‘Covenant of Mayors’ initiatives; and Facilitate the adoption of climate adaptation and mitigation policies and actions at cross-border level, drawing up a joint policy recommendation paper for a more coherent implementation of the climate and energy strategies in the macroregion. Expected results: The measures planned by Life SEC Adapt aim to ensure the achievement of the project objectives, with the following expected results: Some 17 EU municipalities will join the ‘Mayors Adapt’ initiative, producing the relevant vulnerability assessment analysis, baseline assessment reports, political visions for climate change, climate adaptation strategies and plans integrating the approved SEAPs as well as feasibility matrixes for the evaluation of adaptation options; Some 33.1% of the population of the Marche and Jadranska Hrvastska regions will be less exposed to extreme weather and climatic events (total population of the 17 municipalities involved/total population of Marche and Jadranska Hrvastska regions); Some 16.8% of the territory of Marche and Jadranska Hrvastska regions will be less exposed to extreme weather and climatic events (total area of 17 municipalities involved/total area of Marche and Istria region); At least 40 technical officers of 20 municipalities will be trained on how to use the energy and climate monitoring system (Sec Adapt monitoring tool), half of whom will be able to use it independently; At least 160 municipal political and technical representatives will become more knowledgeable about the climate adaptation process, as a result of at least 10 regional round tables and four capacity-building sessions, with representatives of experienced EU municipalities; and Guidelines for vulnerability and risk assessment analysis and a related common index, as well as a collection of sources for good practices regarding climate adaptation will be compiled.