Azores is investing in climate resilience

The Regional Government of the Azores will invest approximately 20 million euros by 2030, through the LIFE IP CLIMAZ project, to strengthen the region’s resilience to climate change, the Azorean executive announced.

By TPN/Lusa, in News · 01 Nov 2026, 11:03 · 0 Comments

Credits: Unsplash; Author: Fernando Strabuli;

Alonso Miguel, the Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Action, speaking at the opening of the 2nd LIFE IP CLIMAZ project seminar in Angra do Heroísmo—themed “From Planning to Action: Climate Resilience in the Azores”—stated that “this investment translates into a cross-cutting and highly concrete intervention across the territory.”

This intervention “makes it possible to bolster the region’s capacity to anticipate, prevent, and respond to the effects of climate change, protecting people and property, our natural resources, and economic activities that are fundamental to the Azores,” he said in a press release.

LIFE IP CLIMAZ serves as the primary instrument for operationalising the Regional Climate Change Program (PRAC). It has a budget of approximately 20 million euros—60% of which is co-financed by the European Union—and is expected to contribute to the implementation of about 75% of the adaptation measures and 70% of the mitigation measures outlined in the PRAC.

Alonso Miguel highlighted that the project’s scope “allows for simultaneous action in areas critical to the Azores’ resilience, ranging from the management of natural risks and water resources to coastal protection, as well as forests and land use, agriculture and livestock, the marine environment, energy, and transport.”

Under the LIFE IP CLIMAZ project, 11 senior technical staff members and 29 operational assistants have already been hired. At the same time, the teams involved have participated in 117 training initiatives—55 of which the project promoted and funded. The project also invested approximately 1.3 million euros in infrastructure installation and the acquisition of tools, machinery, and personal protective equipment, in addition to over 1 million euros to bolster vehicle fleets.

The latter enabled the purchase of two light electric vehicles and 15 pickup trucks—including the first nine electric vehicles of this type within the regional public administration.

In the realm of water resources, the revision processes for the Regional Water Program, the Management Plan for the Azores Hydrographic Region, and the region’s Flood Risk Management Plan have been completed; additionally, the Drought and Water Scarcity Management Plan for the Azores has been approved.

The project also includes concrete on-the-ground interventions, including work on 18 streams covering over 11 hectares, as well as initiatives to convert pastures and restore native forests across 80 hectares—a process involving the planting of approximately 100,000 specimens of endemic and native species.

The project also extends to electric mobility, with the commissioning of 40 new public charging stations for electric vehicles, alongside efforts in other sectors such as agriculture, the marine environment, and energy.

The official highlighted that island territories like the Azores are “particularly vulnerable to phenomena associated with climate change, namely rising mean sea levels, coastal erosion, shifts in the hydrological cycle and precipitation patterns, the salinisation of soils and aquifers, and ocean acidification.”

“We are transforming planning into the capacity for intervention and into concrete actions on the ground. It is this work that enables the Azores to become progressively better prepared and more resilient in the face of the challenges posed by climate change,” concluded Alonso Miguel.