New cities joining the Pilot Cities Programme 

Twenty-five cities committed to become climate neutral by 2030 as part of the EU Cities Mission are on course to receive further EU support for ambitious climate-related projects, aimed at accelerating progress towards their 2030 goal. They have just joined the Pilot Cities Programme, part of NetZeroCities led by EIT Climate-KIC, offering cities financial and substantial support to develop sustainable solutions. 

Through Horizon Europe, the EU’s key research and innovation programme, the cities from across the EU and in associated countries of Horizon Europe will benefit from over 14 million Euros in total to become ‘Pilot Cities’, acting as innovation hubs as they test solutions for rapid decarbonisation. 

The selected cities are: Helsinki, Tampere (Finland); Munich, Dortmund, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Dresden (Germany); Brussels, Antwerp (Belgium); Gabrovo (Bulgaria); Reykjavik (Iceland); Sønderborg (Denmark); Angers Loire Métropole, Bordeaux Métropole, Communauté Urbaine de Dunkerque, City of Paris (France); Dublin, Cork (Ireland); Athens, Trikala, Kalamata, Thessaloniki (Greece), Elbasan (Albania), Izmir (Turkey), and Gothenburg (Sweden). 

The grants, awarded in packages of 500,000-600,000, 1 Million, or 1.5 Million Euros, will support Pilot Cities’ exploratory activities across 21 projects (with some cities having submitted joint proposals) and a broad range of themes, from emissions sources like transport, mobility, and industry, and the means of change, such as governance, social innovation, and data and digitalisation. 

“Dublin City Council is delighted to have received funding through the EU Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission to undertake a pilot programme together with Cork City Council that will allow us to activate 7,500 staff across both our cities to achieve climate neutrality by working collaboratively with citizens, business, and academia to test innovative solutions that improve life for all. We are looking forward to sharing the knowledge and experience we gain over the next two years with cities across Europe and beyond,” said Richard Shakespeare, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council 

Pilot Cities will also receive direct support from city experts and have opportunities to learn from other cities over the course of the two-year programme delivered by NetZeroCities, the consortium set up to support cities in the EU Cities Mission. 

The results and learning from Pilot Cities’ work will be shared in turn with other cities who are not part of the EU Cities Mission and have been selected to participate in a ‘twinning’ programme. Twin Cities will work with Pilot Cities to learn and collaborate on shared problems, multiplying the impact of the programme and hastening European cities’ efforts to become climate neutral. 

These awards are the third and final batch given to Mission Cities to join the Pilot Cities Programme, bringing the total number of Pilot Cities to 104. They follow 26 awards given in January 2024, and 53 from the first cohort who started their programme activities in the summer of 2023. 

 More information on the Pilot Cities Programme can be found here.