NZC news Archives - Page 4 of 17

Mission-driven policy innovation: accelerating cities’ journeys to climate neutrality

Ella Morgan2025-10-02T16:34:41+02:00August 18th, 2025|

Written by Lilybell Evergreen, Alan MacKenzie, and Georgia Cameron On the road to reach climate neutrality, cities across Europe are confronting a well-established obstacle when it comes to making policy: traditional approaches often fall short when tackling the complex, interconnected challenges of climate action. The tight links to other complex topics like industrial policy or energy security multiply the difficulties of action and, too often, cities spend their time managing symptoms, rather than getting to the underlying problems that they see. But within the EU Cities Mission, where more than 100 Mission Cities are striving to [...]

Different Cities, Common Ground: Westminster’s Twinning Story

Ella Morgan2025-08-18T12:23:29+02:00August 13th, 2025|

Author: Ayden Maher In the heart of London, Westminster is home to a diverse community of residents, institutions, and businesses, presenting a uniquely layered challenge for the climate transition. At first glance, it bears little resemblance to cities like Leuven in Belgium or Lund in Sweden. But through the Twinning Learning Programme, these cities are united by a common goal: to transform how urban areas are heated and to do so in a way that brings long-term benefits to local people. What happens when cities with vastly different contexts come together to tackle one of the most complex aspects of [...]

Charting the course: Ioannina’s Climate Neutral Zones in motion

Ella Morgan2025-09-25T15:01:58+02:00August 12th, 2025|

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Stories from Pilot Cities: Ioannina is one of the 112 cities participating in the EU Mission to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities, and the Pilot Cities Programme – a component of the Mission that focuses on exploring and testing pathways to rapid decarbonisation over a two-year period. Ioannina, a vibrant university town by a shimmering lake surrounded by mountains, may not fit the Greek postcard stereotype, and that’s exactly what makes it the perfect place to reimagine the future of their climate neutrality. Through their participation in the Pilot Cities Programme, Ioannina is [...]

How much does it cost to reach climate neutrality?

Ella Morgan2025-07-31T16:14:44+02:00July 31st, 2025|

Written by Bankers without Boundaries and Alan MacKenzie Mission Cities have ambitious plans to become climate neutral – but the means of financing them will have to be just as innovative and bold. Experts from NetZeroCities’ partner Bankers without Boundaries have crunched the numbers and set out the challenges for Mission Cities in a recent paper. We must fully grasp the magnitude of the investment required for cities to deliver their climate neutrality plans – because without that clarity, they risk falling short. The estimated €307bn (or €5,486 per person) needed across [...]

What Carbon Capture is Teaching Trondheim About Climate Transformation

Ella Morgan2025-08-06T10:51:13+02:00July 31st, 2025|

Author: Elisa Abrantes Stories from Pilot Cities: Trondheim is one of the 112 cities participating in the EU Mission to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities, and the Pilot Cities Programme – a component of the Mission that focuses on exploring and testing pathways to rapid decarbonisation over a two-year period. “If we don’t address the issue of consumption, our emission reduction goals will never be enough,” says Chin-Yu Lee, reflecting on her experience of over a decade working in climate policy. In Trondheim, Norway’s third-largest city, that systemic change is being put to the test [...]

Support in the development of a local climate finance facility in Nantes Métropole

Anne-Charlotte Costabadie2025-07-24T17:41:33+02:00July 24th, 2025|

Deadline: 29 August 2025 About the request The City Expert Support Facility (CESF), through NetZeroCities / Climate-KIC, are requesting proposals for supporting Nantes Métropole in the development of a local climate finance facility aimed at linking private and public funders with project developers in the field of carbon storage, biodiversity, reforestation, and more generally climate transition. The goal of Nantes Metropole is to create an innovative facility, inspired by La Rochelle's Coopérative carbone pioneering model, capable of creating a new financial ecosystem by linking private (and public) funders with climate project developers, particularly in the fields of carbon storage, biodiversity, [...]

Transition teams: Spotlight on the crews steering cities to climate neutrality

Anne-Charlotte Costabadie2025-07-11T18:44:49+02:00July 11th, 2025|

Written by Lilybell Evergreen, Bhuvana Sekar, and Alan MacKenzie As cities across Europe pursue climate neutrality as part of the EU Cities Mission, their efforts to innovate, collaborate, and learn are being organised in very different ways. But what do these efforts have in common that other cities can learn from and replicate? Each of the Mission’s 112 cities has its own story – its own structures, goals, challenges, and opportunities – but another view of this diversity is offered by looking at the people closest to the cities and how they work with others to [...]

Aarhus bets on co-creation and compromise for its green future

Anne-Charlotte Costabadie2025-07-08T10:37:01+02:00July 7th, 2025|

Author: Elisa Abrantes Stories from Pilot Cities: Aarhus is one of the 112 cities participating in the EU Mission to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities, and the Pilot Cities Programme – a component of the Mission that focuses on exploring and testing pathways to rapid decarbonisation over a two-year period. What happens when an entire area in a city becomes a test site for tackling climate change? In Spørring, a peri-urban community between the city and its rural surroundings, Aarhus municipality is rolling out new initiatives aimed at cutting emissions while using land more efficiently. [...]

Climate on a budget: funding the change across Europe

Anne-Charlotte Costabadie2025-07-08T16:33:32+02:00July 7th, 2025|

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Stories from Pilot Cities: Klagenfurt, Gozo and Vilnius are part of the 112 cities participating in the EU Mission to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities, and the Pilot Cities Programme – a component of the Mission that focuses on exploring and testing pathways to rapid decarbonisation over a two-year period. ‘How are we going to finance the transition?’ is the question echoing the corridors of town halls and policy meetings across Europe. Climate targets are set. Plans are drawn. But turning vision into reality often comes down to one of the key [...]

Save the date: Torino to host Europe’s most ambitious cities for major climate neutrality conference in 2026

Anne-Charlotte Costabadie2026-02-19T12:14:02+01:00July 7th, 2025|

The city of Torino in northern Italy has been announced as the next host of the EU Cities Mission conference on 27-29 May 2026. The programme is expected, however, to begin on 27 May with sessions outside of the main conference venue. More information will follow soon and we recommend that attendees await this before making travel plans. Torino – one of 112 aiming to reach climate neutrality before 2030 – will welcome hundreds of counterparts across Europe, as well as representatives from European political and financial institutions, business, climate organisations and other experts. This [...]

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