Background
NetZeroCities, through Special Grant Agreement 2 (SGA2) Task 1.6, ‘Sub-European Peer-to-Peer Collaboration’, is actively working to provide tailored support in various national contexts. The aim is to provide additional support to cities, foster communities of practice between cities in each country, i.e. to strengthen city-to-city collaboration spaces at national level and thus help to reinforce national platforms. To achieve this, NZC has developed a country-specific support framework tailored to the unique characteristics and needs of each context.
In the Republic of Slovenia, cities Kranj, Ljubljana and Velenje are participating in the EU Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” as Mission cities. However, there are many more Slovenian cities that work hard to implement ambitious climate action and improve the wellbeing of their citizens, such as Celje, Koper, Maribor, Novo Mesto and Ptuj. It is crucial to foster collaboration on climate neutrality between Slovenian cities to enable knowledge exchange and transfer of good practices in the same national context as well as to better connect the cities to the emerging national support structure for climate neutral cities. This support shall be delivered in close collaboration with relevant national partners, including the Institute for Spatial Policies and Jožef Stefan Institute.
To consolidate ongoing efforts, this assignment is designed to establish a structured and continuous engagement process building on the work delivered between June 2025 and June 2026. These services, which will be contracted through this tender, are to be delivered by an individual or organization with deep expertise in the Slovenian national context and experience in convening stakeholders from local, regional and national governments. This approach ensures targeted support that directly addresses the objectives outlined in this Request for Proposals.
Finally, as part of this specific support, each country has a NetZeroCities partner responsible for coordinating and monitoring the work. In the case of Slovenia, this role is fulfilled by Energy Cities. A strong coordination between the selected provider, Energy Cities and the NetZeroCities team is requested alongside the whole contracting period.
Scope
In the context of the efforts of Slovenian cities within the EU Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and specifically the opportunity identified to provide additional support to the community of cities working toward the mission’s objectives within the Slovenia’s national ecosystem, NetZeroCities/ Climate KIC is requesting a quotation for services from an organization or individual able to operate within this national context. The role involves supporting teams from NetZeroCities, as relevant, to take charge of and facilitate the process described below.
The following is a general description of the services and actions to be provided by the awarded supplier, followed in subsequent sections with detailed information:
- Expert support, namely collective technical assistance, aimed at fostering radical collaboration between cities, increasing their capacities and improving the cooperation of the community of practice of cities with national authorities, and different stakeholders within the Republic of
Slovenia. The support will be directed towards cities that are already part of the Mission in the Republic of Slovenia – Mission cities, Pilot cities, Twin cities, cities participating in online discussion groups and in the Community of Practice of Cities in the Republic of Slovenia and other interested cities wanting to achieve climate neutrality. - Coordination support aimed at establishing coherent collaboration processes for Slovenian cities, regular meetings, feedback loops, process documentation, meaningful links to national authorities and other relevant stakeholders.
- Organisation of two “EU Cities Mission events” (one during the last quarter of 2026 and one in 2027) to support cities, promote co-implementation of projects and enhance collaboration between cities, national and regional authorities, and other stakeholders. The services will also include encouraging the participation of CapaCITIES 2.0 partners or similar initiatives in this event.
As part of the organisation of the two EU Cities Mission event, the supplier will support the implementation of Better Funding Dialogue (BFD) activities, in coordination with NetZeroCities partners: The BFD aim is to enhance financial flows to cities, mobilise private stakeholders, and drive systemic change in financing structures to achieve climate neutrality. The supplier is expected to play an active support role in conducting the necessary groundwork, including stakeholder outreach, coordination, and preparation, to deliver the EU Cities Mission events. This entails integrating the BFD within the events’ framework and ensuring close coordination with the respective initiative leads.
This support is also intended to catalyse longer-term cooperation between national authorities, cities, private sector actors, and financial institutions. The events should not be designed as standalone activities, but act as key milestones of a broader, structured multi-stakeholder engagement process.
The supplier will be expected to design and implement preparatory activities at national and local levels to identify and address key challenges, opportunities, and priorities related to the selected thematic focus. The supplier is encouraged to strategically leverage existing national events and platforms (e.g.
sectoral fairs, national conferences) to organise complementary sessions or engagement moments, to maximise participation and cost-efficiency. Presentations and technical support will take place predominantly in Slovenia; therefore, presenters must be fluent in Slovenian. The collaboration and interaction with NetZeroCities partners will be in English.
The general objective of the described support is to enhance collaboration between cities in the same national context through the facilitation of training and peer-to-peer learning activities, the provision of specialised technical assistance, and other initiatives. Specifically, it aims to strengthen the community of practice for cities within the national platforms, creating collaborative spaces where Mission cities and other cities committed to decarbonisation goals can receive support, work on common challenges, share learnings and make progress toward these objectives.
Additionally, this targeted support is intended as seed funding with the primary objective of maximising impact by strengthening collaborative networks within each country. Therefore, this initiative also aims to serve as kick-start and to encourage the continuity of funding once the support described in this
procurement is completed.
The selected supplier is expected to engage collaboratively with experts from the NetZeroCities consortium, as well as to create synergies with the cities and key stakeholders of the Slovenian national ecosystem. It is expected to build strong basis for a constructive and sustainable multi-level dialogue involving national and regional stakeholders, cities, policy makers, research centres etc. NetZeroCities representatives (who are resourced already and do not have to be represented in a financial offer) and Mission cities are to be engaged on a day to day basis where needed, on baseline briefings, the overarching strategic approach within which this assignment takes place, as well as for sharing good practices/learning from other Mission and Mission-minded cities, where relevant.
Timeline and additional information
Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals by 07 July 2026 (23:59 CEST Time) to Luisa Carretti and Dominika Mickiewicz [CESF@netzerocities.eu]. Proposals should include and address all specific requirements related to the request which can be found below.
