About NetZeroCities
Home to 75 per cent of Europeans and responsible for more than 70 per cent of global CO2 emissions, cities can lead the European Union’s pathway to a carbon-free world. Achieving net zero in an inclusive way will be an extraordinary undertaking for each and every city and will require profound and systemic changes.
Government leadership is critical, and action by industry, education and research institutions and civil society organisations must align in terms of policy, governance and capital investment. To underpin these efforts, on 28 April 2022, the European Commission announced the 112 cities selected to participate in the EU Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, also known as the Cities Mission.
The designated cities, 100 coming from all 27 EU countries and 12 coming from Horizon Europe associated countries, are receiving tailor-made advice and support from EU Mission’s NetZeroCities, a programme led by EIT Climate-KIC to reach climate neutrality by 2030 and inspire other cities to follow suit by 2050.
NetZeroCities supports cities in climate action
NetZeroCities consists of 33 partners from 27 European countries and is part of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme in support of European Green Deal. The main goal of NetZeroCities is to engage local authorities and other stakeholders to deliver over 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. The programme has been designed to help cities overcome current structural, institutional and cultural barriers they face in order to achieve this goal.
NetZeroCities recognises the need for cities to develop specific strategies that are tailored to suit local and regional contexts and supports them by developing and promoting new and existing tools, resources, and expertise into a one-stop-shop platform accessible to all cities through an online portal and hands-on support through several programmes.
NetZeroCities objectives:
- Develop an approach to support climate-neutral transformation in cities
- Help cities build capabilities and ways of working to advance systemic change using innovation
- Forge a platform for cities to use for all services & expertise critical to climate neutrality
- Facilitate a pipeline of cities accelerating towards climate neutrality
Thomas Osdoba, EIT Climate-KIC, NetZeroCities Director.
"The Mission represents the most ambitious cities to lead the way in responding to the climate emergency. Reaching climate neutrality will be difficult and our job is to help cities on that journey, especially with innovation and learning that touch every aspect of a city,"
NetZeroCities Pilot Projects
NetZeroCities also supports a series of pilot projects under the Pilot Cities Programme to test and implement innovative approaches to rapid decarbonisation at the city level and a Twinning Programme to facilitate peer learning. The Programme seeks to address all urban systems contributing to climate neutrality, including mobility, energy systems and the built environment, material and resource flows, natural areas, cultural/social/financial/institutional systems, and accessible public spaces.
About the EU “Cities Mission”
The Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities “Cities Mission” is one of five EU Missions, a novelty of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme for the years 2021-2027. Missions are a new way to bring concrete solutions to some of Europe’s greatest challenges. Working towards ambitious goals, they are expected to deliver tangible results by 2030.
The Cities Mission involves local authorities, citizens, businesses, investors as well as regional and national authorities to:
- Deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030;
- Ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050.
News
16 February 2024
NetZeroCities: New cities join the Pilot Cities Programme to accelerate climate transition
12 December 2023
European Cities are learning together how to achieve climate neutrality by 2030
15 November 2023
Krakow: Paving the way to climate neutrality
17 October 2023
European cities to receive the EU Mission Label for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
24 July 2023
Collaboration and mutual trust underpin systemic change in Europe through NetZeroCities
12 June 2023
European cities fostering climate action under NetZeroCities programme
2 June 2023
A twinning initiative to support European cities collaborate for net zero
13 March 2023
Ukrainian city Rivne chosen for Net Zero Cities Pilot programme
3 March 2023
Getting to climate neutrality: 53 Pilot Cities offer a path towards transformation
5 September 2022
€32 million to drive carbon neutrality in cities
13 June 2022
100 European cities meet in Brussels to launch the NetZeroCities programme
28 April 2022
EIT Climate-KIC will help 100 European cities to achieve climate neutrality
29 September 2021
NetZeroCities: the new project leading European cities’ transition to net-zero emissions by 2030