Accelerating cities' transition to net zero emissions by 2030
NetZeroCities supports European cities to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions through climate action to achieve ‘climate neutrality’, one of the biggest challenges our societies face today. The project works as a service-oriented platform supported by world-class practitioners helping European cities to achieve their Net Zero goals in a socially inclusive way.
Europe has pledged to lead climate action and set ambitious goals and directives to achieve that commitment. The Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research and innovation programmes, the European Green Deal, and other European Union policies and directives propel European Member States towards a 55% cut in emissions by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. Cities are envisioned to lead in this respect, achieving zero carbon faster and ensuring decarbonisation efforts are equitable and contribute to the well-being of European communities. NetZeroCities supports cities in achieving climate neutrality by 2030 and implementing profound and systemic changes to overcome the current structural, institutional, and cultural barriers.
Objective
The ambition of the NetZeroCities project is to create Europe’s platform for the future of its cities based on a methodology and delivery system that responds to the real-time needs of cities, their citizens, and communities. It aims to enable cities to develop strategies and solutions tailored to local and regional contexts to accelerate their transition toward climate neutrality. The objectives of the project are:
- To develop an approach to support climate-neutral transformation in cities
- To help cities build capabilities and ways of working to advance systemic change using innovation
- To forge a platform for cities to use for all services & expertise critical to climate neutrality
- To facilitate a pipeline of cities accelerating towards climate neutrality.
Duration and partners
Duration: October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2025
Partners: 33 partners from 13 countries, a full list of partners can be found HERE
Funding
Funding source: NetZeroCities project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action programme under grant agreement No. 101036519.
Budget: total budget is 52 996 604,88 € (budget for the FinEst Centre is 0,1 M €).
Sustainability and Responsibility
NetZeroCities networks and programmes support cities in their climate action work across all emission-intensive urban systems – energy, buildings, transport, food, and waste – by advocating city views, climate action planning, funding for innovative approaches, carbon neutrality governance, climate communication, policy development, adoption and implementation, and leadership training. New and existing tools, resources and expertise are developed and promoted into a one-stop platform accessible to all cities through an online portal. Dedicated services are designed to support cities that are part of the EU’s Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”. In addition, NetZeroCities supports 25 Pilots (53 cities) to help drive rapid learning about achieving climate neutrality at the city scale and will run a Twinning programme to enable peer learning. The overall ambition of the NetZeroCities project is to support at least 100 cities and districts in achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 by developing and deploying an integral approach to accelerate the climate-neutral transformation and sustainable urban development.
The Role of the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities
The FinEst Centre’s role in the NetZeroCities project is two-fold: (1) to provide expert support and coaching for cities and (2) to foster rapid replication and scale-up of good practices and technologies. Specifically, the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities is involved in developing and implementing a tailored Learning Programme for Twinning (a peer learning and exchange programme between Pilot and Twin Cities) and identifying best practices to inspire and inform replication and scale-up in cities.
