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NetZeroCities

@netzerocitieseu

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EU #HorizonEurope and #H2020 project - Accelerating cities' transition to climate neutrality by 2030
#EUGreenDeal

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🎉Congratulations to @stadt_dortmund, Sarajevo (City of Sarajevo, City of East Sarajevo, and Sarajevo Canton), and @bashkiaelbasan for receiving the EU Mission Label!

The three cities bring the total to 106 labelled cities. This is a significant moment: Elbasan and Sarajevo are the first cities from the Western Balkans to receive the Label, demonstrating that climate-neutral ambition is spreading across all of Europe.

Technology alone won't get us to climate neutrality. These cities show that inclusive governance and local ingenuity are equally essential:

🤝 Sarajevo grounds climate action in democratic participation, making citizen assemblies a core part of its climate city contract, while rolling out energy communities and programmes designed to protect vulnerable households.

🌱 Elbasan takes a systems approach, weaving together agro-solar installations and geothermal energy to create synergies between farming, energy production and the built environment.

⚡Dortmund is putting energy in the hands of residents, from balcony solar panels to citizen cooperatives, while pioneering circular economy practices like second-life batteries and repurposed photovoltaics.

The label helps cities to access tailored support from the @europeaninvestmentbank (EIB) and the Climate City Capital Hub, build partnerships with investors and businesses, and turn their climate and innovation plans into actionable projects.

➡ Read more: link in bio.

#EUMissions #HorizonEU

@eu_science by @netzerocitieseu

📣Big news from #RiDaysEU!

Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, awarded the Label of the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities to 23 #MissionCities in recognition of the cities’ ambitious plans towards climate neutrality outlined in their Climate City Contracts.

🚀Alongside the 10 cities awarded in October 2023, Ioannina, Kalamata, Kozani, Thessaloniki (Greece), Heidelberg (Germany), Leuven (Belgium), Espoo, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, Turku (Finland), Barcelona, Seville (Spain), Pecs (Hungary), Malmö (Sweden), Guimaraes, Lisbon (Portugal), Florence, Parma (Italy), Marseille, Lyon (France), Limassol (Cyprus) and Izmir (Türkiye), have hit a major milestone in their journey to a greener future!

The EU Mission Label aims to facilitate access to public and private funding, empowering cities to advance towards a fair green and digital transition.

Find out more in the European Commission’s press release. Check our bio!
#EUmissions #HorizonEU #RIWeek2024
@eu_science by @netzerocitieseu

🎉Congratulations to the new 20 #MissionCities awarded the EU Mission Label!

We are thrilled to announce that 20 cities – Aachen, Münster (Germany), Trikala (Greece), Miskolc (Hungary), Eilat (Israel), Bologna, Bergamo, Milan, Prato, Turin (Italy), Liepāja (Latvia), The Hague (the Netherlands), Porto (Portugal), Bucharest 2nd District, Suceava (Romania), Ljubljana, Kranj (Slovenia), Gothenburg, Gävle, Umeå (Sweden) – have been awarded the EU Mission Label as part of the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities! 👏

This award recognises their ambitious plans to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, facilitating access to public and private funding that will help bring their plans to life. The labelled cities will receive support from the Climate City Capital Hub, and are eligible for a €2 billion lending envelope from the European Investment Bank to accelerate their climate action.

With this announcement, the total number of cities awarded the label has now reached 53. The awardee cities will receive their Mission Label by Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, during a ceremony on 22 October at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Let's celebrate their remarkable and bold efforts in building a resilient climate-neutral future for all!

Read the @europeancommission's press release: link in bio!
Learn more about the Climate City Capital hub: link in bio!

#EUMissions #HorizonEU

@eu_science

@stadtaachen, @stadt_muenster, @dimostrikkaion_official, #Miskolc, @eilatmuni, @ComunediBologna, @ComunediBergamo, @Comune_Milano, @Comuneprato, @ComuneTorino, @liepajalv, @Gemeentedenhaag, @cmporto, @primaria_municipiului_suceava, primariesector2, @mestnaobcinaljubljana, @mestna.obcina.kranj, goteborgsstads, @gavlekommun, @umeakommun by @netzerocitieseu

🎧 New episode of Path to Zero: City Stories is out now.

How do you move around your city? And what would it take to make greener choices the easy ones?

In this episode, host Sean Errey @climate.kic explores #mobility, one of the biggest levers in urban climate action, with two guests:

🇨🇾 Yiannis Armeftis, Mayor of @limassolmunicipality @nzlimassol2030, on how the EU Cities Mission is helping a fast-growing port city where over 90% of journeys are made by car, and green space covers less than 2% of urban land.

🇳🇴 Hilde Solli, Agency for Climate @klimaetaten, @oslo.kommune, on decades of transit-oriented development and what it takes to make walking, cycling and public transport the easiest choices.

Mobility is about far more than transport. It shapes public space, density, local economies, air quality, and the long-term form of a city.

🎧 Listen now: link in bio

#ClimateInPractice #MissionCities #EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu

💡 Two days in Wrocław for the @netzerocitieseu Consortium Meeting this week!

This week was full of meaningful discussions on our work supporting cities. Day 1 saw openings from Thomas Osdoba, Director of NetZeroCities (Climate KIC) and Philippe Froissard, Deputy Mission Manager and Head of Unit - Strategy, Policy Coordination and Urban Transitions, European Commission, setting the scene of how far the EU Cities Mission has come, the Mission platform’s progress; where we are now and what is ahead of us looking at 2030 and beyond. We had candid discussions about where we are and where we need to step up our efforts, with cities' needs front and centre.

The city hosted 4 insightful site visits that showed climate action in practice:
🔹 Poland's largest system heat pump (Fortum), recovering heat from wastewater into the district heating network. It covers around 5% of the city's heat demand and cuts roughly 35,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
🔹 An Old Town promenade route that shows how historic urban greening and climate adaptation work.
🔹 Wrocław City Farm, which combines circular food production with a social programme for the long-term unemployed.
🔹 Poland's first shared urban micro-hub, where couriers share space and cargo bikes handle last-mile deliveries.

Day 2 was an open forum to raise topics from the ground up, exchange ideas, and form groups around common challenges beyond the usual workstreams.

The day also fostered an open and honest dialogue with Łódź, Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków, and Rzeszów about their climate actions and what they need going forwards.

👏 Thank you to everyone who was there this week and big thankyou to the organisers for such an open, creative, and energising format, and for making everything run so smoothly logistically. And of course, thank you to all the cities for sharing their work, ideas and perspectives, and for being part of such an inspiring exchange!

#MissionCities #EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu

🎯 Your city's next climate breakthrough is waiting.

Join the next cohort of Online Discussion Groups. Over 320+ cities have already tapped into peer-to-peer learning on climate action.

This cohort, we're diving into four critical areas for systemic decarbonisation:
🔹 Funding and financing
🔹 Stakeholder and citizen engagement
🔹 Enabling governance
🔹 Data management

Learn from leading #MissionCities. Connect with peers solving the same challenges. Get expert technical support tailored to your needs.

👉 Ready to accelerate your climate journey? Register now: link in bio under 'register now'

#EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu

From paper to pavement 🚋

Europe’s mobility shift is happening where you can feel it — on the pavement, in the school run, at the delivery bay.

Here’s how cities are making space for it:

🚊 @comunedibologna rebuilt its parking rules around a new 60-km tram network carrying 300,000 commuters a day.

🚲 Ioannina’s students helped design 4.2 km of cycle network and nearly 600 metres of pedestrian streets.

🚶 @bashkiaelbasan has started testing temporary cycling infrastructure alongside smart crossings and air-quality monitoring due to the increase in car use and decline in walking and cycling.

🧠 @tamperekaupunki is building greener habits early — nearly half its 2–5 km trips were still by car, so it took the question to young people.

🚛 With heavy vehicles account for 42% of road transport emissions in @cityoflahti, the city combined a Sustainable Urban Logistics Plan with mapping of freight flows, charging needs, business models, and regulation.

📦 @gavlekommun learned electric freight needs more than chargers — haulers need contracts long enough to invest.

🗝️ @mestna.obcina.kranj discovered the obstacle was often in the contract — so it equipped its buses with sensors and wrote open data into its transport agreements.

The takeaway? Cutting transport emissions means engaging with a lot more than the vehicles themselves.

Swipe for the full story → link in bio

#MissionCities #EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu

What if you could explore every Mission city's climate action plan in one place? 🗺️

This is what the Action Explorer does: a new tool on the Mission Portal that turns 100+ Climate City Contracts (CCCs) into a searchable, map-powered dataset.

Built on FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), it makes planned actions visible and comparable across cities for the first time, alongside their expected emission reductions and cost estimates.

✅ Browse across cities. See how planned actions are distributed by sector, spatial context and geography, all in one view.
✅ Explore by map. Move beyond spreadsheets. Visualise where different types of actions are planned and spot concentrations or gaps at a glance.
✅ Compare impact. Each action includes expected emission reductions and cost estimates — helping you surface the most impactful interventions.
✅ Find your peers. Identify other #MissionCities facing similar challenges. See what they're prioritising and where.

More than a catalogue — a decision-support tool for anyone working on urban climate action.

Secure your spot for the next Tool Training session to learn everything you need to know: link in bio under 'register now'

#EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu

A stronger, collective voice for Europe's climate cities🌍

Last Wednesday, the Cities Mission Mayors Advisory Group met for the first time in its second mandate (July 2026-June 2028) at EIT House in Brussels — bringing together cities, representatives of the European Commission, and of the current Mission platform, NetZeroCitiesEU.

🎯Group members confirmed Tania Hristova (Mayor of Gabrovo) as Chair and Anna Lisa Boni (Deputy Mayor of @comunedibologna) as Vice-Chair for the mandate then turned to one of the most pressing questions on the table: how to ensure that cities’ voices are heard when National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) are designed at national level, while negotiations on the next EU budget are ongoing.

The discussion was lively, with an open exchange between the cities, NetZeroCities, and the European Commission. Participants stressed the need for a strong urban dimension in EU funding, with meaningful city involvement in national planning and safeguards against consultation becoming a box-ticking exercise.

🏙️The group looked at the Climate City Contract (CCC) as both a methodology and a mark of recognition for cities, helping them to attract national, EU and private funding. Members discussed good examples already in practice and called for the CCC to be recognised as a credible framework that connects cities’ climate objectives with investment priorities and funding opportunities.

Looking ahead, participants called for a stronger collective political voice for cities, climate messages that show everyday benefits such as jobs, affordable energy and resilience, and long-term recognition of the EU Cities Mission, with greater clarity on the period beyond 2030💡

Explore the Cities Mayors Advisory Group: https://netzerocities.eu/cities-mission-mayors-advisory-group/

#MissionCities #EUMissions by @netzerocitieseu

#GoodCityNews! 6 Urban Actions Recently 🏙️

🤝 In August, @turkukaupunki’s Climate Forum and Europe Forum brought Finland’s Mission cities and Mission-minded cities together.

👣 278 of the citizens of Kalamata (Kalamata 2030), in just one week, walked a total of 7,282,031 steps.

🏗️ Green Responsible Innovative Procurement (GRIP), @oslo.kommune @klimaetaten, @stadtaachen, @kosice_official, has developed a comprehensive set of public procurement resources for any other city that seeks guidance and wants to level up their practises.

🌍 In September, @mestnaobcinavelenje hosted the sixth international Welcome Future Conference during which Peter Dermol, Mayor of the Velenje, emphasised that restructuring should not merely mean bringing one chapter to a close, but should above all provide an opportunity to begin a new one: “Velenje entered the restructuring process in good time and well prepared. We are already building the necessary development infrastructure; now we must fill it with new activities, knowledge, businesses and, above all, people. Our goal is to create an environment in which young people will see opportunities for their future.” 💬

🌱 Patrick Child, Deputy Director-General, DG Environment and EU Cities Mission Manager at the European Commission @eu_science, visited Tartu in September, exploring the city’s citizen-centred projects.

🎯 In September, the Enabling City Transformation EMPOWER @bxllaville project officially closed and delivered their results, providing a valuable toolkit for scalability, alongside many other Enabling City Transformation projects have concluded and hosted their final project events.

This is just a glimpse of what cities have been up to recently, stay tuned for more!

#MissionCities #EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu

Cities and Regions: turning adaptation into reality 🌍

Across Europe, cities and regions are ready to move from climate ambition to action, but financing the projects that make adaptation real remains a challenge. Through @netzerocitieseu, the Climate City Capital Hub is here to help facilitate the shift from climate action plans to investment-ready projects by:
🔹Identifying investment priorities
🔹Structuring financing that blends public and private capital
🔹Facilitating capital access

Are you a city or region with a climate adaptation project that needs financing?

🎯 To be eligible, you need to have a connection to both the EU Cities Mission and the Adaptation Mission. To check your eligibility and explore how the Capital Hub team can support your next project, reach out to us at CapitalHub@netzerocities.eu

Explore the Capital Hub: https://netzerocities.eu/capital-hub/

#MissionCities #EUMissions #HorizonEU #ClimateAdaptation #ClimateFinance by @netzerocitieseu

Cities shape competitiveness in Europe’s mobility market 🚦

Cities connect industry, investors and innovators with real demand. And backing their role could help Europe build better, more connected markets for new mobility solutions.

✅ Cities create markets. As more cities roll out charging points, low-emission zones and electric fleets, cities give new solutions room to grow. That drives more private investment and climate action that pays off commercially.

✅ Cities are big buyers. Nearly 45% of public procurement rests in the hands of local and regional EU authorities. When demand is pooled across borders, it sends a stronger signal to suppliers to invest.

✅ Cities test policies. Cities can prove that policies work, helping to inspire and lower risk for national law to follow.

When we back cities today, Europe’s mobility market can grow faster – and more sustainably.

Read the full article to see which cities are taking the lead 👉 link in bio

#MissionCities #EUMissions #HorizonEU by @netzerocitieseu