The Twinning Programme will guide Twin Cities in their learning and replication efforts from Pilot Cities, with a practical focus on replicating the systemic transformation methodologies and innovative approaches demonstrated by the Pilot activities, on the road to climate neutrality.

Twinning Programme

The Twinning programme is a 20-month programme for knowledge sharing and transfer of good practices between upcoming selected Twin Cities, and the cities that were selected to join the NetZeroCities’ Pilot Cities Programme in March 2023.

The programme is based on a practical knowledge sharing approach from Pilot Cities to Twin Cities, while also enabling a peer learning framework, allowing Pilot Cities to also learn from Twin Cities’ experiences. Upon completion of the learning cycle, Twin Cities will embed the learnings from pilot activities across the city via a Replication Plan. 

In September 2023, the first cohort of cities were selected to join the Twinning Learning Programme, the 40 Twin Cities embark upon an important journey of shared learning, best practices, and much more. The next Call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

Discover the Twin Cities

40 Twin Cities

27 Non-Mission Cities

Paired with 25 Pilot Activities

Gabrovo

Paired with Dijon’s FAASST-NZ: Facilitate trAnsition Actions maSSification Towards NetZero

Križevci

Paired with Nantes’ Together Towards Climate Neutrality

Slavonski Brod

Paired with Polish cities’ NEEST – NetZero Emission and Environmentally Sustainable Territories

Tallinn

Paired with Dutch cities’ Dutch 100CNSC Cities Pilot

Jyväskylä

Paired with German cities’ CoLAB – Committed to Local Climate Action Building

Oulu

Paired with Drammen’s Drammen City – Zero emission 2030

Issy-les-Moulineaux

Paired with Italian cities’ Let’sGOv – GOverning the Transition through Pilot Actions

Cologne

Paired with Spanish cities’ Multi-stakeholder innovative and systemic solutions for urban regeneration: Spain

Wiesbaden

Paired with Malmö’s Net Zero Malmö Pilot

Würzburg

Paired with Umeå’s The North Star

Municipality of Penteli

Paired with Bristol’s Net Zero Investment Co-Innovation Lab

Palaio Faliro

Paired with Nantes’ Together Towards Climate Neutrality

Mytilene

Paired with Istanbul’s Green and Carbon Neutral Building Transition Guide- Istanbul Model

Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni

Paired with Cluj-Napoca’s Blueprint for Net-Zero Apartment-block Neighborhoods

Reykjavik

Paired with Lahti’s Systemic change towards sustainable commuting in Lahti

Dublin

Paired with Cluj-Napoca’s Blueprint for Net-Zero Apartment-block Neighborhoods

Waterford

Paired with Bristol’s Net Zero Investment Co-Innovation Lab

Eilat

Paired with Slovenian cities’ UP-SCALE-Urban Pioneers – Systemic Change Amid Livable Environments

Or Yehuda

Paired with Istanbul’s Green and Carbon Neutral Building Transition Guide- Istanbul Model

Jerusalem

Paired with Lahti’s Systemic change towards sustainable commuting in Lahti

Municipality of L’Aquila

Paired with Drammen’s Drammen City – Zero emission 2030

Genova

Paired with Italian cities’ Let’sGOv – GOverning the Transition through Pilot Actions

Riga

Paired with Uppsala’s SCALE UP (Systematic Climate Action to Lower Emissions in Uppsala)

Tauragė

Paired with Turku’s 1.5-Degree City

Vilnius

Paired with German cities’ CoLAB – Committed to Local Climate Action Building

Municipality of Fundão

Paired with Turku’s 1.5-Degree City

Torres Vedras

Paired with Guimarães’ District C: a zero-carbon commitment

Matosinhos

Paired with Dijon’s FAASST-NZ: Facilitate trAnsition Actions maSSification Towards Net Zero

Braga

Paired with Uppsala’s SCALE UP (Systematic Climate Action to Lower Emissions in Uppsala)

Alba Iulia

Paired with Kozani’s NEUTRON

Lorquí

Paired with Limassol’s Lemesos City Cooling Challenge: LC³

Soria

Paired with Spanish cities’ Multi-stakeholder innovative and systemic solutions for urban regeneration: Spain

Viladecans

Paired with Limassol’s Lemesos City Cooling Challenge: LC³

Luleå

Paired with Umeå’s The North Star

Lund

Paired with Leuven

Eskisehir

Paired with Budapest’s Budapest CARES – Climate Agency for Renovation of homES

Konya

Paired with Rivne’s Creating NetZero vision for Rivne

Kharkiv

Paired with Liberec’s The Initiation of Sustainable Energy Community for the City of Liberec

Belfast

Paired with Galway’s Galway City Net zero pilot city

City of Westminster

Paired with Leuven

TIMELINE

3 May 2023

Opening of the Call for Twins

30 June 2023

Closing of the Call for Twins

September 2023

Results of the Call for Twins

Early spring 2024

New call for Twin Cities

Twin Cities and Pilot Cities working together

Pilot Cities and Twin Cities matching is based on finding similar challenges and common interests in the different emissions domains and levers of change, allowing innovative actions through systemic transformation. 

A range of activities, such as tailored online meetings, workshops and inspiring site visits, are planned to advance learning, experience sharing and co-creation of solutions on the road to climate neutrality.

Twin Cities will receive hands-on support from NetZeroCities partners to advance their objectives, and they will have access to the set of tools and resources provided by the NetZeroCities portal.

ROADMAP

The Twinning Learning Programme is made up of three modules, namely Getting started, Co-creating and Capitalising.

The goal of these modules is to provide a framework for participating cities to enable the best possible knowledge transfer between cities. The framework is built around dedicated outputs and a facilitated process while leaving enough room for flexibility for cities to shape the learning journey.

To ensure that Twin City participants gain the most from the in-person exchanges, travel costs will be reimbursed up to a certain amount. Further information will be made available to successful Twin City applicants upon successful selection.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The Twinning programme is a 20-month programme for knowledge sharing and transfer of good practices between upcoming selected Twin Cities, and the cities that were selected to join the NetZeroCities’ Pilot Cities Programme in March 2023. 

The programme is based on a practical knowledge sharing approach from Pilot Cities to Twin Cities, while also enabling a peer learning framework, allowing Pilot Cities to learn from Twin Cities’ experiences. Upon completion of the learning cycle, Twin Cities will embed the learnings from pilot activities across their city via a Replication Plan. 

The 2023 call was open to all cities, selected as one of the 100+12 Mission Cities or not, based in EU Member states or Horizon 2020 Associated Countries (*). The list of eligible countries appears in the dropdown section in the application form of the call. The next call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

* Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Tunisia, Georgia, Armenia. 

The call is open from 3 May 2023 12.00 CEST until 30 June 2023 23.59 CEST. The next call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

No. The 2023 was open to cities based in EU Member states or Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. The definition of the persons or categories of persons which are eligible to apply: local authorities or city administrations. Information regarding the next Call for Twin Cities will be available in early spring 2024.

Unlike the previous open call for Pilot Cities, the twinning call is addressed to individual Twin City applications rather than to a group of cities applying together. The logic behind an individual twinning application lies in the impact of higher potential for replication, also allowing Pilot Cities to focus on individual city learning needs. 

As indicated on Local Authority Details section of the call form, only one application may be submitted by an eligible city.  

The Twinning Programme is designed for cities, as stated in the Call Guidelines 2023 (section 1.3 Who Can Apply, page 7):  “This Call is open to cities based in EU Member states or Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. The definition of the persons or categories of persons which are eligible to apply: local authorities or city administrations.” 

Therefore, cities are the only beneficiaries from the 2023 call and the ones to embed the learnings from the exchanges with the Pilot Cities, but this will not prevent Twin Cities from being supported by third parties on their own.  

The Catalogue of Pilot Cities can be found here.

There are three eligibility criteria: 

  1. Municipality/local authority must be within either an EU Member state or an approved H2020 Associated Country, at the point of the submission deadline 
  2. Climate neutrality commitment before or by 2050 
  3. Capacity to engage in the Twinning Learning Programme 

The Call Guidelines from the 2023 Call for Twin Cities can be found on the following link.

The Twinning Programme covers travel costs of selected Twin Cities to their paired Pilot Cities (up to EUR 800 per 2 visits for 2 Twin City representatives). This is the only area where budget is foreseen for Twin Cities, with the aim of gaining an in-depth understanding of the pilot activity/es, through the site-visits while enabling the completion of the Replication Plan. 

Applications will only be accepted when they are submitted on the NetZeroCities Website on the Twinning Programme page. Please note that applications to the Call for Twin Cities has now closed. The next Call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

The application link is the following: https://share-eu1.hsforms.com/1uSBsVloQT7ewZebOTBQt-wf93gn 

Twin Cities should ensure adequate human resources and time (a minimum of 12 hours per month) to engage in the 20 months period Twinning Learning Programme and assign between 1-2 (recommended) city representatives per Twin City, with at least a proficiency level of B2 English. To ensure that Twin City participants gain the most from the in-person exchanges, travel costs will be reimbursed up to a certain amount. Further information been made available to successful Twin City applicants upon successful selection. 

The Call Guidelines does not mention specific requirements on the number of inhabitants of Twin City applicants. The Call for Twin Cities was open to all cities, selected as one of the 100+12 Mission Cities or not, based in EU Member states or Horizon 2020 Associated Countries (*). The list of eligible countries appears in the dropdown section in the application form of the call. The next Call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

* Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Tunisia, Georgia, Armenia.

When submitting their applications, applicant cities must rank up to five pilot activities, in terms of their city learning priorities. Please, notice that this selection will serve NetZeroCities partners as a guidance in the matching process, but this will not guarantee that the pairing will be with one of the indicated options.

The Calls for Twin Cities are open for Mission and non-Mission Cities. However, Pilot Cities should not apply to become Twin cities, as they will have dedicated and clustered peer learning opportunities within the Pilot City Programme. Please note that the Call for Twin Cities 2023 has now closed and the next Call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

This is subject to the same call/evaluation process as ever; it is subject to funding agreements with NetZeroCities and CINEA, and it is of course subject to cities all applying and following the same processes. It cannot be guaranteed – this is just the nature of funding programmes. However, it is indeed NetZeroCities’ ambition that all Mission Cities will have the opportunity to be Pilot Cities and receive funding to experiment with their systemic approach/plans (inc. relationship to CCC).

Cities that haven’t been selected as a Pilot City yet can apply both for the Twin Cities Call and to the next Pilot Cities Call, as long as they fulfil the eligibility criteria. Applying for both calls will not have a negative impact on either application. However, they should ensure capacity and resources to engage in both calls. Please note that the Call for Pilot Cities is now open to current Mission Cities, more information can be found here. The Call for Twin Cities has now closed, the next Call for Twin Cities will open in early spring 2024.

If you have any questions about the Twinning Programme, you can reach out to us via email!