Overview
NetZeroCities helps Europe in its ambition to achieve climate neutrality by managing the platform of the EU’s Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”. The initiative assists cities to overcome current structural, institutional and cultural barriers they face in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. It acts as a service provider connecting cities with expertise and tools to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring decarbonisation efforts are equitable.
Mission and focus areas
NetZeroCities supports cities in putting their climate ambitions into action. Its goal is to help 100 European cities become climate-neutral and smart by 2030 and ensure they serve as experimentation and innovation hubs, paving the way for all European cities to follow suit by 2050. Focus areas include electrification of transport and buildings, demand flexibility in energy systems, innovative financing models, and the use of public procurement to spark a shift to zero-emission technologies.
Structure and governance
NetZeroCities is a project funded through the European Union’s ‘Horizon 2020’ and ‘Horizon Europe’ research and innovation programmes.
Programs and offerings
NetZeroCities provides cities with tailored support, world-class expertise, and services through the Mission Platform. Offerings include the Pilot Cities Programme, which helps cities test and implement solutions, and the Leveraging Innovation and Financing Transformation Call (LIFT). It also provides digital tools, guidance, and a Community of Practice where practitioners can share knowledge and collaborate on practical solutions.
The EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
The NZC project will support the EU’s Mission of “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” newly-launched as part of the Horizon Europe programme, by seeking to scale the activities of this project across 100 cities, and to tackle the unprecedented capital investments needed to make such a transformation possible.
The EU #MissionCities will involve local authorities, citizens, businesses, investors as well as regional and national authorities to
- Deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030
- Ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow by 2050
