European cities fostering climate action under NetZeroCities programme

In its first year, the EIT Climate-KIC-led NetZeroCities programme, which supports more than 100 city governments in adopting integrated green urban planning strategies to reach net zero, has already accelerated cities’ efforts through concrete ambitious actions. As a result, the first batch of European cities have recently submitted their Climate City Contracts, which will serve as their roadmaps to reaching climate neutrality by 2030. This is a crucial milestone on their journey under the EU Mission’s NetZeroCities programme, which operates as one-stop shop, supported by world-class practitioners providing cities with tools and support. 

Europe is home to some of the most ambitious cities in the world when it comes to achieving climate neutrality. The European Union has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050, and many of its member states’ cities, like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris have followed suit. Achieving net zero requires collaboration between city governments, businesses and residents, as well as significant investments in infrastructure and technology. It requires a systemic approach so that change happens rapidly and simultaneously across cities, regions and countries.

To reach this ambitious goal, NetZeroCities supports cities selected for the EU’s Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities” with a dedicated platform that provides online resources and tailored, in-person support from City Advisors who guide and help the selected cities on their path to net zero.

“Our role in supporting the Mission Cities falls within three, interconnected buckets: Support, Connect, and Advise. The key aspect is working with City representatives to place the Mission approach within their city context. This involves considering how the programme elements and corresponding efforts connect to local initiatives and communities.” – said Keira Webster, NetZeroCities City Advisor, EIT Climate-KIC.

The City Advisors liaise with and advise cities as they commit to, implement and engage in climate action. They are coming from various backgrounds and experiences and offer in-depth expertise from working directly with cities and other municipal public bodies. Key aspects of their role are fostering collaborations and building trust.

“The most important thing for cities is to have someone to work with them. It’s easier to try something new when many others are doing it at the same time. I would say it’s about creating a movement. City governments cannot do it alone. They need the citizens, businesses, NGOs to take part. Our role as City Advisors is to identify the situation, the nature and the culture of each city and find out who would be good to work with? How can we create and develop something impactful, instead of spending too many resources and maybe not reaching what we want to achieve?” – said Jakob Stolt, NetZeroCities City Advisor, EIT Climate-KIC.

Climate City Contracts to better strategise and accelerate the transition

As part of the EU Mission, cities are developing Climate City Contracts (CCC). These are an innovative governance tool to help them collaboratively address some of the main barriers to achieving climate neutrality by 2030. The CCC is the documented outcome of an iterative co-creation process. Systemic in nature, it is led by cities and involves a wide range of actors at different levels of government, as well as a broader ecosystem of private and civic stakeholders. Together they identify all the key measures to achieve net zero and the ways and means to implement them.

“The Climate City Contracts aim to assist Cities in reducing emissions, striving to complement, build upon, and ultimately accelerate ongoing climate action in the city. I see it as a work planning tool for a municipal government to bring together key stakeholders involved in urban climate action and collaboratively outline the work needed in the coming years to achieve the 2030 climate neutrality goal.” – Webster continues.

Climate City Contracts have three components: The Commitments part identifies key priorities and strategic interventions to focus on in key areas, as well as the outcomes of a co-creation process to find new ways of working together to achieve the goal faster. It includes a shared 2030 ambition and a strategy to achieve it, as well as concrete commitments for action by stakeholders. The Commitments part is at the core of the project and is signed by the city mayor and other key actors. It is supported by an Action Plan, which identifies the strengths and gaps of existing strategies, policies and plans and uses all levers of change (areas that have the potential to bring about positive change) to create a coordinated portfolio of interventions (coordinated set actions to be implemented). Finally, the Investment Plan strategically mobilises and organises public resources and addresses how to attract private capital for financing.

“The action plan and the investment plan are context specific and ambitious. The intent is that the Climate City Contract is a cohesive, holistic, and ambitious document that outlines the complex climate action work that needs to be done. It outlines how the different actions come together within a portfolio and integrates economic and financial perspectives. I think it is critical that the Climate City Contract include in a clear and frank manner the challenges and barriers that impact each city’s path to climate neutrality. In doing so, I hope Climate City Contracts can yield insight into shared challenges among mission cities and serve as a resource for mobilising stakeholders, exploring solutions, and problem-solving collaboratively.” – Webster adds.

Systemically fostering climate neutrality

The Climate City Contracts aim to move from single point solutions to systemic thinking that helps cities accelerate transformative change with a holistic and interconnected approach that involves all relevant stakeholders. It is based on a deep understanding of the system by mapping the unique local systems to uncover the interdependencies between the different technological, financial, organisational and institutional, democratic and social levers. This is the starting point for creating portfolios of interventions that use multiple levers across the system – governance and policy, finance and business models, technology, democracy and social innovation, capability building.

“It’s about breaking silos, shared ownership of climate issues within the municipality, to the creation of an ecosystem for transformation resulting in an impactful portfolio of actions. The cities are invited to really consider the challenges and barriers to reaching climate neutrality but also the opportunities that open up through new ways of stakeholder cooperation, the more holistic understanding of the links between the different sectors and levers as well as the investment planning exercise. I see the Climate City Contract as a great tool to introduce the systemic approach to action and investment planning. Of course, keeping in mind that the cities should use it in a way that brings them the most of it.” – said Anna Huttunen, NetZeroCities City Advisor, EIT Climate-KIC.

Mission Cities have two windows per year to submit their Climate City Contracts to the European Commission. The first window closed on 15 April and the second window closes on 15 October 2023. Next year, cities will also have two submission windows. “It’s not just a one-off submission where they get the Mission Label (a quality assurance certification designed to unlock synergies with other EU funding programmes). It is an iterative process, a living document and cities should keep updating it regularly to review and monitor their progress, to bring new stakeholders on board, add actions – with the ultimate goal in mind, climate neutrality,” – Huttunen adds.

If you want to learn more about the Net Zero Cities programme or the Climate City Contracts, contacts us at media@climate-kic.org