Weather- and climate-related damages, in particular those due to flooding, pose substantial risks to the business continuity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Currently, this economic sector receives in Italy little support for planning and implementation of adaptation measures.

In Turin, a public-private partnership involving insurers, local authorities and SMEs was developed in the framework of the LIFE-funded DisastEr Risk Reduction InSurance (DERRIS) project (2015-2018). It aimed at increasing the resilience of SMEs to climate impacts through knowledge transfer for the creation of risk awareness (“culture of risk”) and for capacity building for adaptation planning. The partnership has succeeded in developing Company Adaptation Action Plans (CAAP) for the SMEs involved and the Integrated District Adaptation Plan (IDAP) for a selected area within the pilot city Turin, and followed up on the implementation of planned measures. Furthermore, DERRIS created an on-line risk assessment tool (Climate Risk Assessment and Management - CRAM), which provides guidance and support to SMEs in assessing their vulnerability and designing their adaptation action plans using. The project involved, further to the pilot city of Turin, 10 other Italian cities. After its formal end in 2018, capitalization activities continue, involving four more cities (among these the city of Milan), which joined the initiative in 2019. Moreover, the online (CRAM) tool continues to be updated.