Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Visitors arriving in Espoo often notice the scenery first. The city sits on 58 kilometres of seashore, with 165 islands and forests around. That landscape is not a postcard backdrop. To protect it, the city has committed to becoming climate neutral by 2030. Its strategy has been to make climate action a shared effort across the city, bringing businesses, civil society and citizens into the work, while developing an investment framework that helps turn green ambition into investable projects.  The scale of the task is stark. Espoo’s target is an 80% cut in emissions by 2030, but updated scenarios show current measures delivering only 60%. The city’s population has almost [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz In cities, every tram line, courtyard and renovated apartment block is ultimately about the daily lives of residents, not about abstract climate targets. As Europe races towards 2030 climate neutrality goals, and cities are growing exponentially, one lesson from the Pilot Cities Programme is becoming clear. The cities that move fastest tend to be those that treat citizens as partners in the transition, rather than relying only on big budgets or smart technology.  Across the first cohort of 52 Pilot Cities, more than 184,000 people took part in activities that ranged from citizen assemblies and neighbourhood workshops to digital apps [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Lappeenranta is raising the bar for how a European city can shape its heating future. In a moment when many cities are struggling to cut emissions from buildings, this lakeside community in Southeast Finland is piloting a digital approach that uses real-time data, building sensors and electricity market forecasting to reduce energy use and shrink fossil fuel demand during peak hours.  The work is part of the Pilot Cities Programme, and it offers a concrete example of how technology and local collaboration can reshape district heating and support broader climate neutrality goals. What is happening [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Across Europe, a quiet shift has been taking place. In 52 cities, local governments, residents, community groups and businesses spent two years testing new ways to cut emissions and new financing models and how to turn abstract climate ambition into a lived, local systemic transformation. Now, their achievements show what reaching climate neutrality can mean in practice.  Their collective effort has produced tangible results. More than 184,000 citizens took part in pilot activities. Cities trained over 1,400 public officers, created 256 new jobs, launched 40 follow-up projects and recorded an estimated reduction [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Stories from Pilot Cities: Helsingborg 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. Helsingborg is taking on one of the toughest climate challenges in Europe by cutting emissions from the construction sector. The Swedish coastal city is transforming its Oceanhamnen district into a living laboratory where new ways of designing, building and managing materials are tested in real [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Stories from Pilot Cities: Zagreb 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. In the heart of Croatia, Zagreb is showing how the path to climate neutrality can begin in the most unexpected places. By embedding climate goals into every layer of governance, transforming their financial approach and transforming neglected courtyards into vibrant green hubs, the Croatian capital [...]

Author: Ayden Maher Stories from Pilot Cities: Oslo 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. From Climate budgets to Construction yards Oslo has earned its reputation as one of Europe’s climate leaders. The city was the first in the world to introduce a climate budget, a governance system that ties emissions targets directly to financial planning. That model has since [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Stories from Pilot Cities: Stockholm 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. When politicians in Stockholm first set their sights on becoming climate positive by 2030, a bolder target than even Sweden’s national 2045 neutrality goal, the city officials knew they could not do it alone. The numbers told a clear story: the city administration could directly [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Stories from Pilot Cities: The Hague 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. When Petra Bijvoet from the City Hall talks about The Hague, she speaks with the urgency of someone who knows that time is running out. "We're the most densely built city in the Netherlands," she says, "and we sit right at sea level. If [...]

Author: Ayden Maher Stories from Pilot Cities: Marseille 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. How businesses and neighbourhoods are building a climate movement together   When Marseille joined the Pilot Cities Programme, it wasn't to add a few more environmental projects to its to-do list. The ambition was bigger: to change how climate action happens in the city, by making residents, businesses, [...]