Background
NetZeroCities through Special Grant Agreement 2 ( 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. Three Norwegian cities, Oslo, Trondheim, and Stavanger are part of the EU Cities Mission, while Drammen was engaged in the Pilot Cities Programme Cohort 1 Many other cities in Norway are also working towards ambitious climate neutrality targets. Strengthening the community of practice that brings together Mission Cities and other committed cities accelerates cities’ progress towards climate neutrality, by creating a continuous process for sharing experiences, fostering collaboration, and building collective capacity. It is crucial to foster collaboration on climate neutrality between Norwegian 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 must be delivered in close collaboration with national partners, including CapaCITIES partners, to avoid duplication of efforts.
The support focus will be on strengthening multi stakeholder collaboration and enhancing cities’ capacity to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders, including academia, businesses, investors, and civil society. This engagement is crucial for securing commitments to climate neutralit y and driving concrete actions. To consolidate ongoing efforts, this assignment is designed to establish a structured and continuous engagement process building on the work delivered between August 2025 and July 2026 These services, which will be contracted through this tender, are to be delivered by an individual or organization with deep expertise in the Norwegian 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 Norway, this role is fulfilled by Viable Cities and supported by the NZC City Advisor appointed for Norway A strong coordination between the selected provider, Viable Cities and the NetZeroCities team is requested alongside the whole contracting period.
Scope
In the context of the efforts of Norwegian 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 MMission’s objectives within the Norway’s national ecosystem, NetZeroCities / Climate KIC is requesting a quotation for services from an organisation or individual able to operate within this national context. The role involves supporting teams from NetZeroCities, as relevant, to lead and facilitate the process described below.
The following is a general description of the services and actions to be provided by the supplier, followed in subsequent sections with detailed information.
- Expert support aimed at fostering radical collaboration between cities, increasing their capacity and strengthening cooperation within the community of practice of cities with national authorities, and different stakeholders within Norway. The support will be directed towards cities that are already part of the Mission in Norway Mission Cities, Pilot City, Twin Cities, cities participating in online discussion groups, and other interested cities wanting to achieve climate neutrality.
- Organisation of two in-person annual “EU Mission Cities events” to support cities, promote co- implementation of projects and to enhance collaboration between cities, national and regional authorities, and other stakeholders.
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 specialized 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 decarbonization goals can receive support, work on common challenges, share learnings and make progress toward these objectives.
This support is also int ended to catalyse longer-term cooperation between national authorities, cities, private sector actors, and financial institutions. The events won’t 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 na tional and local levels to identify and address key challenges, opportunities, and priorities related to the selected thematic focus. The supplier is asked to strategically leverage existing events and platforms (e.g. sectoral fairs, national conferences) to organise complementary sessions or engagement moments, to maximise participation and cost-efficiency.
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 will engage collaboratively with experts from the NetZeroCities consortium, and will create synergies with the cities and key stakeholders of the Norwegian 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 centers etc. NetZeroCities representatives (who are res ourced 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 f or 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 24 August 2026 (23:59 CEST Time) to Luisa Carretti and Shuva Thapa [CESF@netzerocities.eu]. Proposals should include and address all specific requirements related to the request which can be found below.
