NetZeroCities Programme

European Cities accelerating towards climate neutrality by 2030

What we do Europe 2030 missions European Cities accelerating towards climate neutrality by 2030

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 Climate KIC to reach climate neutrality by 2030 and inspire other cities to follow suit by 2050.

go to Netzerocities website 

112 Mission Cities
35 Countries
2030 Towards Net Zero by
33 Consotrium Partners

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, 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,"