Cities play a pivotal role in achieving climate neutrality by 2050, the goal of the European Green Deal. Cities take up only 4% of the EU’s land area, but they are home to 75% of EU citizens. Furthermore, cities consume over 65% of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions.
The Cities Mission will involve local authorities, citizens, businesses, investors as well as regional and national authorities to:
- Deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030
- Ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050
As foreseen in its implementation plan, the Cities Mission takes a cross-sectoral and demand-led approach, creating synergies between existing initiatives and basing its activities on the actual needs of cities.
The Commission launched a Call for Expression of Interest addressed to cities and allowed them to state their interest in becoming climate-neutral by 2030 as part of the Mission and to submit information on their current situation, ongoing work, and future plans with regard to climate neutrality. The 100 selected cities are now being invited to develop Climate City Contracts, which will include an overall plan for climate neutrality across all sectors such as energy, buildings, waste management and transport, together with related investment plans. This process will involve citizens, research organisations and the private sector.
The clear and visible commitments made by the cities in the Climate City Contracts will enable them to engage with the EU, national and regional authorities – and most importantly with their own citizens to deliver on this ambitious objective. Climate City Contracts will be co-created with local stakeholders and citizens, with the help of a Mission Platform (which is currently managed by the project NetZeroCities).
