Background
The Cities of Parma and Bologna are part of the Italian network of Mission Cities and have each developed their Climate City Contracts (CCCs) through large, collaborative coalitions involving universities, utilities, private-sector partners, civil-society organisations, research institutions, intermunicipal bodies, and the Emilia-Romagna Region. These alliances demonstrate strong political commitment and broad engagement, but they currently lack formal legal or institutional anchoring. As a consequence, they remain fragile, heavily dependent on voluntary participation, and exposed to political turnover, administrative restructuring, and fragmented mandates. Both cities are now entering a decisive moment: the shift from planning and intention (CCC development) to operational delivery and long-term implementation. To ensure continuity and accelerate climate action, they require governance structures that are legally sound, financially feasible, operationally credible, and resilient across political cycles. Parma and Bologna therefore seek specialised external support to design, validate, and co-create governance models that can:
- provide long-term institutional durability;
- coordinate multi-actor delivery during CCC implementation;
- ensure continuity beyond the 2027 elections;
- allow responsible and transparent participation of private-sector actors;
- align municipal, provincial, and regional mandates;
- create structures capable of managing resources and accessing funding;
- offer a model that is replicable across all Italian Mission cities.
This request builds directly on the work and learnings of Let’sGOv, a pilot carried out by all nine Italian Mission Cities. Let’sGOv surfaced shared governance challenges and demonstrated a strong need for governance innovations that can be transferred across cities. These include:
- persistent difficulty in ensuring structured, consistent stakeholder engagement;
- the lack of multi-actor governance frameworks that support climate neutrality delivery;
- the fragility of voluntary coalitions lacking institutional or legal identity;
- the need for models that survive electoral cycles and administrative turnover;
- emerging innovations (e.g., Cabine di Regia, Transition Teams, Climate Assemblies) demonstrating potential but still lacking long-term anchoring;
- strengthened inter-city collaboration that can be leveraged for replication.
The support requested through CESF represents the next step in this systemic transformation: turning insights and emerging practices into operational, legally anchored governance architectures that can drive climate neutrality to 2030 and beyond.
The supplier will work closely with Parma, Bologna, and their stakeholders, and will also interface with the broader network of Italian Mission Cities through Col’Azioni Climatiche, coordinated by Politecnico di Milano (Polimi). This will enable continuous validation, peer testing, and Italy-wide scaling of results. Key stakeholders include: Municipal administrations, technical departments, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Provinces, universities, utilities, private-sector partners, chambers of commerce, civilsociety organisations, Italian Mission Cities, and NetZeroCities consortium City Advisor and experts.
Key contextual considerations include:
- the 2027 election cycle and the need for pre-election formalisation;
- regulatory constraints in Italy concerning public-private collaboration;
- the transition into CCC delivery;
- the ambition to contribute to an Italy-wide governance blueprint.
About the request
Climate KIC, on behalf of NetZeroCities, requests proposals for the design, assessment, and cocreation of legally anchored, financially feasible, operational governance structures for Parma and Bologna’s climate alliances. The assignment combines legal advisory, governance design, and facilitated stakeholder co-creation to ensure that the proposed governance model is both legally feasible and operationally supported by key actors. The supplier will support the cities to:
- identify feasible legal and institutional options for long-term governance anchoring;
- design an operational governance model that:
- supports CCC implementation,
- articulates clear roles, mandates, decision-making pathways,
- ensures continuity beyond political cycles,
- supports access to financing and resource mobilisation;
- build on insights from Let’sGOv and on innovative models already emerging in Italian cities;
- ensure that the final governance framework developed for Parma and Bologna is structured in a way that allows adaptation by other Italian Mission Cities. Transferability will be addressed through Deliverable 4 (Italy-wide Transferable Governance Model), which will synthesise the key elements of the proposed governance structure, highlight enabling conditions and constraints under Italian law, and outline considerations for adaptation in other municipal contexts.
This assignment goes well beyond improving coordination. It addresses the structural foundations needed for long-term, multi-actor climate governance: legal durability, institutional identity, compliance with public-sector requirements, financial capability, and resilience to political change.
Timeline and additional information
Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals by 24 April 2026 (23:59 CEST Time) to Luisa Carretti or Mateusz Hoffmann [CESF@netzerocities.eu]. Proposals should include and address all specific requirements related to the request which can be found below.
