NEW: Watch the video from the EU Cities Mission Conference 2025 

More than 100 cities across the EU and beyond, including in the UK, Ukraine, Turkey, and Israel, have supported their journey to climate neutrality and strengthened the tools they will need to get there at a major urban sustainability conference supported by the European Commission. 

Cities were represented by political leaders and staff leading their climate activities and made up part of the 825 total guests who met at the annual conference of the EU Cities Mission – the largest one yet – from 6-8 May in the European Green Capital of Vilnius, Lithuania, to pool their ambition and know-how and share key learning. 

Over three intensive days, cities had access to expertise across dozens of breakout sessions or workshops facilitated by other city representatives or partners from academia, finance, business, climate organisations, and city networks.

The programme included: 

  • high-level speakers, including recorded video messages from Teresa Ribera, European Commission Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, and former US Vice-President Al Gore,
  • over 80 hours of discussion and collaboration between cities and experts in more than 50 themed sessions covering critical topics such as energy transitions, policy and finance, and highlighting key collaborations, such as with cities in Ukraine who continue to work to improve their circumstances,  
  • calls to action delivered by cities, including the ‘Green Responsible Innovative Procurement’ (GRIP) initiative, presented by the City of Oslo, to deepen political commitment across Mission Cities to use procurement to advance climate action; and the ‘Valencia Green Charter’, a joint declaration presented by Viable Cities, which calls for further support to scale up the EU Cities Mission, coordinated by the Swedish and Spanish national platforms, and now representing more than 60 cities, networks and national platforms in 15 EU Member States, and 
  • 39 Mission Cities being awarded an EU Mission Label, recognising their commitment and plans to reach climate neutrality by 2030.  

The EU has encouraged Mission Cities to consider forming partnerships with Ukrainian cities to align their recovery plans with the goals of the EU Cities Mission. The SUN4Ukraine initiative will run from October 2025 to April 2027. Senior political leaders from the Ukrainian cities of Novovolynsk and Zviahel also contributed to the session on ‘Building Bridges across Europe’, which covered infrastructure and finance issues and collaboration between cities, including in Ukraine, to address these challenges. 

Notes from the sessions will soon be published on the NetZeroCities portal – a growing library of expertise on urban sustainability – and will allow city practitioners, researchers and others to learn and build on the contributions made over three days packed days of this flagship EU Cities Mission conference titled Harnessing City Successes: Advancing Climate Action for 2030. 

High-level speakers on the first day included former US Vice-President Al Gore, who congratulated the cities on their climate action and its urgency and offered them an encouraging message:

“If you ever doubt for one second that we as human beings have the capacity to muster the sufficient political will to act – please remember, political will is itself a renewable resource.”  

Mayor Valdas Benkunskas of host city Vilnius opened the conference:

“Our slogan – the greenest city in the making – is not just a promise, but an honest acknowledgement that the journey is ongoing. We are not perfect, but we are determined.” 

This determination was bolstered on the second day, where the Mission Label awards ceremony underlined a European success story being delivered locally, where 39 Mission Cities received the award. A total of 92 Mission Cities have now received a label following their submission to the European Commission of a Climate City Contract, which contains detailed climate action and investment plans, unlocking access to financial and technical expertise from the Climate City Capital Hub and the European Investment Bank to support and source investment in their projects. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Patrick Child, Acting Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) and Mission Manager for the Cities Mission, welcomed the event as “a great moment” for cities’ collective celebration and shared a strong message of support as their journey continues:

“We – with the NetZeroCities platform, with the Capital Hub, with the dedicated lending facility from the European Investment Bank – we will remain strongly with you in the coming months and years as you now transform these exciting plans into reality.”   

Teresa Ribera, who leads on Europe’s goals in the Green Deal for the European Commission, opened the final day and thanked cities for their efforts that are “inspiring others across Europe.” The Mission, Ribera said, was not only projects and policies:

“It is about people, it is about citizens, it is about neighbours, it is about you, your teams and your communities – everybody working every single day to improve the air we breathe, to transform the transport systems, to build greener neighbourhoods, and to shape a better future.”  

NetZeroCities’ Programme Director Thomas Osdoba said:

“This event was a standout moment for cities and their climate neutrality goals. Over three days of intensive exchange and collaboration, Mission Cities have gained insights from other cities and inspired them in return through their commitment and ambition to shape a climate-neutral future for the place they call home. We ask a lot of each other, and spending time together is an essential moment to deepen our work as we look forward.  

“I am deeply proud of the contributions all of the cities have made to make the week such an uplifting one, and my warmest thanks go to our host city, Vilnius, for their gracious hospitality. Thanks to our excellent partnership with the European Commission and our colleagues in NetZeroCities who worked so hard to ensure a smooth-running event, we continue to help build momentum for the Mission Cities.” 

The event was jointly organised by NetZeroCities consortium partners ICLEI, LGI and Climate-KIC, the City of Vilnius, and the European Commission.  

NetZeroCities is a project consortium consisting of 34 partners, managing the EU Cities Mission platform. The project supports the 112 European cities known as Mission Cities to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to achieve climate neutrality. The EU Cities Mission supports the European Green Deal in building a low-carbon, climate-resilient future through research and innovation.