Pilot Cities Programme – Call for Pilot Cities, Cohort 3 (2024)

The aim of this call is to select from Mission Cities a cohort of Pilot Cities, which will explore and test pathways to accelerated change towards 2030 climate neutrality goals — relevant to a city’s key emission domains — and to generate accelerated learning that can inform subsequent replication and scaling efforts in all other EU cities. 

Activities eligible for funding are:

• Pioneering activities to support climate-neutrality, including the deployment of innovative (new or improved) technology, product, process, service, solution, policy, or governance model at city level, explored in a cross-sectoral and systemic manner.
• Systemic, science-based innovative initiatives that strengthen cities’ use of scientific research and ensure translation of research results into policy actions, to accelerate climate neutrality in the sectors/domains of water, food, energy, industry, housing and deep building retrofitting, transport, and mobility through the levers of green technology (i.e., digitalisation), behavioural/lifestyle change, social innovation, culture, policy and regulation, finance, and new business models (e.g., circular economy). These innovations shall account for co-benefits (e.g., health promotion) and the “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle.
• Activities to support climate-neutrality to establish new knowledge and build capacity and capabilities of city government and associated local actors through training, workshops, and other forms of learning.
• Activities aiming to build more collaborative communities, to advance new governance models at city level, and to engage citizens (including vulnerable/marginalised groups) and enable them to act on climate change in a systemic and cross-sectoral manner.