NetZeroCities Blog: Power up your city’s climate action story

Hey there, city changemakers.
Buckle up and get ready to take a deep dive into the world of climate-neutral cities!
This is the NetZeroCities Blog, your go-to for all stories of urban sustainability in Europe. We’re on a mission to supercharge sustainable development through collaboration, innovation, and sharing impactful yet energising knowledge.
Get inspired by real, ground-level stories and content
With this blog, we are sharing some amazing stories from our contributors. Think in-depth case studies, quick updates, and everything in between. We want to show you the diversity of content and perspectives that make this blog a beacon of hope, a mechanism for action and a destination to reflect and share the complex realities of our journey, together.
Strategies to make innovation stick in cities
In this second blog on city innovation, NetZeroCities partners TNO show how cities – after identifying their challenges, outlined in part one – can follow five strategies to make innovation not a ‘nice to [...]
Introducing National Mission Ecosystem pages: a one-stop-shop for city climate data and actions
European cities are working together and engaging national governments to meet their climate goals, but a clear picture of city activity presented country by country was lacking. Newly launched National Mission Ecosystem pages, compiled by NetZeroCities, will bring clarity and opportunities, our partners from UPM, the Technical University of Madrid, explain. [...]
What are ‘negative emissions’ and what do they mean for cities?
Cities are trying to rapidly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero, but why ‘net’ zero? This is where negative emissions come in. Paul Barton from NetZeroCities’ partner ICLEI Europe explains how [...]
Cities Mission Times 2026: Delivering Europe’s Urban Climate Transition
At the recent Cities Mission Conference 2026, held in Torino from 27-29 May, attendees received the "Cities Mission Times," a newspaper dedicated to delivering Europe's urban climate transition and celebrating city progress on the [...]
Torino: an elegant and innovative host as centre of European city climate action
More than 100 cities and hundreds of attendees from across academia, politics, finance and civil society came together in Torino to tackle the biggest sustainability issues facing cities – making the north Italian city the focal point of European climate action for [...]
The 15 challenges that quietly stall public sector innovation – and how naming them is half the battle
Most cities do not struggle with a lack of ideas but with the conditions that make it hard for good ideas to thrive and succeed. Marjolein Heezen and Tess Tjokrodikromo from TNO Vector explain how recognising and naming these problems can help cities overcome them. [...]







