NetZeroCities supports Europe and in particular European cities to drastically cut down greenhouse gas emissions through climate action to achieve ‘climate neutrality’, one of the biggest challenges our societies face today.
Climate context
Europe has pledged to lead on climate action and has set forth ambitious goals and directives to achieve that commitment. The Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research and innovation programmes, the European Green Deal and other European Union policies and directives propel European Member States towards a 55% cut in emissions by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050.
Cities are envisioned to lead in this respect, achieving zero carbon faster and ensuring our decarbonisation efforts are equitable and contribute to the well-being of European communities.
THE PROJECT
NetZeroCities is part of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme in support of European Union’s Green Deal. NetZeroCities has been designed to help cities overcome the current structural, institutional and cultural barriers they face in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.
NetZeroCities supports the EU’s Mission of “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” newly-launched as part of the Horizon Europe programme. The project works as a service-oriented platform supported by world-class practitioners. It helps European cities by providing them with the support and solutions they need to achieve their Net Zero goal in a socially inclusive way.
New and existing tools, resources and expertise are developed and promoted into a one-stop platform accessible to all cities through an online portal. Dedicated services are designed to support cities that are part of the EU’s Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”. In addition, NetZeroCities supports a series of Pilots to help drive rapid learning about how to achieve climate neutrality at city scale, and will run a Twinning programme to enable peer-learning.
OUR APPROACH
Cities have a leading role to play, not just in meeting the climate goals and targets set out by international policy frameworks such as the COP21 Paris Agreement, but in ensuring our decarbonisation efforts are equitable and contribute to the well-being of European communities.
Achieving zero carbon in an inclusive way will be an extraordinary undertaking for each and every city. This will require profound and systemic changes. Government leadership will be critical, and actions by industry, education and research institutions, and civic organisations must align in terms of policies, governance, and the needed capital investments.
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.
The EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
NetZeroCities supports 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 involves 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
NetZeroCities in a nutshell
