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 have’ but an inevitable part of their results. In our first blog, we described 15 recurring challenges that quietly stall innovation in cities, showing up as slow progress, unfinished pilots, fragile initiatives, and innovation that depends on personal energy rather than organisational support. But naming challenges is only half the battle. In our work on addressing complex societal challenges with public organisations [...]

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.  Cities working towards climate neutrality don’t operate in isolation, and understanding the many forms of support available to them under the EU Cities Mission isn’t always easy.   Who is involved? Where do you go to connect? And how do local and national efforts link together? Questions that should be straightfoward to answer but would have required a lot of effort to search for different sources.  To address this, NetZeroCities, the EU Cities Mission platform, has launched the first version of its National Mission Ecosystem pages, now available for 35 countries. These pages aim to offer a clearer and more accessible way [...]

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 critical these are for cities’ climate neutrality goals. A less considered part of the terms “net zero” and “climate neutral” is that they imply that some carbon emissions can’t be mitigated by 2030. These leftover or “residual” emissions therefore need to be cancelled out through actions that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Why do cities need negative emissions? The removal and storage [...]

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 three days in May.  By Alan MacKenzie  A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, so take a look here and enjoy a great selection of all key moments from the 2026 EU Cities Mission conference in Torino!  Altogether, they tell a story of engagement and collaboration on a large scale – and the numbers support it. Over 650 guests joined the conference, including representatives from over 100 [...]

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.  Across multiple European cities working on complex innovation challenges, the same obstacles can be seen again and again, regardless of the city’s size, geography, or ambition.   These challenges do not usually appear as dramatic failures. Instead, they surface as slow progress, unfinished pilots, frustrated teams, or promising initiatives that never quite become ‘normal practice’.  And when teams can point to a challenge, rather than a person or project, deliberate action becomes possible.  Naming them creates [...]

The Swedish port city’s many departments and companies are led by a multi-year environment and climate programme until 2030, but close collaboration needs a shared journey, not only a common destination. With the help of NetZeroCities’ Capital Hub, steps towards green finance are opening up new conversations – even with existing partners.  By Alan MacKenzie  Michelle Coldrey from Gothenburg has been speaking to other Swedish cities about her city’s work with finance specialists from NetZeroCities.   “Why not? Give it a go,” she tells them.  Coldrey, who works on Gothenburg’s environment and climate programme, recognises that city staff can be hesitant about conversations that touch on finance, especially with external actors, if it isn’t their specific role or area of expertise.  Patience and perseverance, on all sides, is a must for understanding partners’ needs and what is possible.  “You have [...]

The city of Torino, alongside local partners, the European Commission and NetZeroCities, are making the final preparations before the EU Cities Mission conference in May. With a large programme, many site visits, and collaboration and networking opportunities planned, their hard work aims to let guest cities focus entirely on their climate priorities.  Torino’s path to climate neutrality is “collective and open,” while the city wants to be “an example at the European level,” says its mayor, Stefano Lo Russo.  In less than a month, Torino will play precisely that role as hundreds of guests representing dozens of cities will arrive under for the EU Cities Mission’s annual conference and two and a half days of collaboration and exploration, supported by NetZeroCities’ experts.  Torino [...]

Climate-friendly construction could be less costly than first thought, according to a new report, with some measures adding little or no cost.  Mission cities are learning from Oslo how this could be encouraged through public procurement. Sofi Halling, a senior adviser at Oslo Climate Agency, explains.  The construction sector is an “often overlooked” source of cities’ greenhouse gas emissions, but the good news is that cutting emissions in this sector might be less costly than anticipated, according to a report by SINTEF, a Norwegian research institute for sustainable development.  “This report shows that smarter design, the right choice of materials and increased re-use of material can cut emissions faster than many think,” says Audun Garberg, acting [...]

Collaboration promises to pool resources and spread expertise – but first everyone has to be put in the same room. The EU Cities Mission is doing just that and bringing cities, national governments and other important sectors together in a regular and shared forum. Ahead of recent municipal elections, it was the turn of the French ‘ecosystem’ to meet on key topics of finance and governance. By Marion Gonzales Offering collaborative spaces to tackle shared challenges is one of the key value propositions of the EU Cities Mission – and financing climate action is a hot [...]