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.
Bringing networks to life: why context matters as much as contacts
Working in networks is widely promoted in public policy, urban innovation, and climate action – but too often, they create more meetings than results and more expectations than impact. NetZeroCities partners at the Technical [...]
Better funding for better cities: what a dialogue in Poland can tell us about the future of EU funding
Funding for cities is changing while their responsibilities are increasing – but to shape this change, cities must take part in the process now, says Natalia Lewandowska from NetZeroCities’ partners ICLEI Europe. Recent experience in Poland can show them how. [...]
Bringing out the best in climate partners: the ‘two circles’ of creative stakeholder management
Working within the EU Cities Mission requires both operations and innovation – but teams can get stuck on only one and miss the complementary benefits of the other. To help them overcome this familiar [...]
When efficiency isn’t enough: how sufficiency policies can help cities to reduce resource demand while ensuring a good life for all
Research increasingly shows that energy and resource efficiency and technological innovation alone cannot solve our climate and environmental crises. Major actors like the IPCC and the EU Horizon Programme are therefore turning their eyes towards how resource demand can be reduced, while ensuring that everyone’s [...]
From neighbours to networks – how communities fund their own future
Imagine an island powered entirely by its residents, a grocery store fighting food waste while building a community, or a network of affordable homes shielded from market speculation. These aren’t utopian dreams – they're real examples in communities taking control of their own resources [...]
‘We were lucky’: Twin City interview with Lund
The Swedish city of Lund has a unique perspective in the EU Cities Mission – how has it shaped its climate activities and learning? In a recent interview, Tommy Bengtsson and Juliet Leonette from [...]







