40 ambitious cities speeding to climate neutrality on Europe-wide peer-learning programme

PRESS RELEASE

Over the next 12 months, 40 cities from 24 countries will work together on local climate action, joining a unique programme offered under the EU Cities Mission. Twenty-two new cities will bring the total number engaged through peer-learning programmes in the mission to more than 200.

The Twinning Learning Programme is facilitated by NetZeroCities, which manages the EU Cities Mission platform, and will welcome the following cities as ‘Twin cities’ in the fourth cohort of the programme from 1 December 2025:

Through mutual knowledge exchange, the new Twin cities will work directly with 18 participating Mission cities – the 112 cities aiming to reach climate neutrality by 2030 as part of the EU Cities Mission – to learn from their experience, focusing on the actions outlined in their Climate City Contracts and the priorities identified in their associated action plans. The interactions will help twin cities design replication activities tailored to their needs, while Mission Cities will gain fresh perspectives and innovations to strengthen their own actions.

As a peer-learning opportunity funded under the EU Cities Mission, the programme directly contributes to the Mission’s second objective – ensuring that Mission cities act as hubs of experimentation and innovation, enabling all European cities to become climate neutral by 2050.

Informed by previous Twinning activities developed as part of the EU Cities Mission, this refreshed programme provides targeted feedback, structured partnerships, and access to practical tools. Through tailored and flexible knowledge exchange, workshops and site visits, cities can refine their strategies, accelerate progress toward key climate milestones, and strengthen their leadership role in driving urban climate action.

Since its launch in 2023, the Twinning Learning Programme has already connected more than 180 cities through three cohorts and received consistently positive feedback. Cities highlight the value of learning from peers facing similar challenges and gaining practical insights that have informed their own climate strategies.

 About the EU Cities Mission

EU Missions are a way to bring concrete solutions to some of our greatest challenges. They have ambitious goals and will deliver tangible results by 2030, by putting research and innovation into a new role, combined with new forms of governance and collaboration, as well as by engaging citizens.

EU Missions are part of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme for the years 2021-2027. Since climate mitigation is heavily dependent on urban action, we need to support cities in accelerating their green and digital transformation. The EU Cities Mission involves local authorities, citizens, businesses, investors as well as regional and national authorities to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 and ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050.

About NetZeroCities

NetZeroCities is a consortium of 34 partners from 13 European countries managing the EU Cities Mission Platform in support of the EU’s Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”.

NetZeroCities works as a service-oriented platform supported by world-class practitioners to help cities overcome the current structural, institutional, and cultural barriers they face in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. NetZeroCities aims to enable European cities and citizens to show the way forward towards an inclusive, thriving, climate resilient and sustainable future. To do so, it tailors advanced capabilities related to systemic change, citizen engagement and democratic governance, capital and financial structuring, and social innovation, to ensure cities have access to the best expertise available anywhere in the world.

For more information about the new cohort of the Twinning Learning Programme, please visit this page.

ENDS