Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Germany joined forces to support local authorities in Central Eastern European (CEE) and South-Eastern European (SEE) to develop, monitor and implement climate neutrality strategies, thus contributing to the EU targets set for 2050.
Since reaching climate neutrality by 2050 is a constant challenge for cities, the recently launched EUKI funded project Ready4NetZero focuses on building capacity, knowledge and skills among city officials, municipal staff and local stakeholders, fostering exchange and networking between municipalities that are in the process of developing long-term Energy and Climate strategies.
Coordinated by the Association of Municipalities Polish Network „Energie Cités“, based on the experience and guidance offered by the German Ecologic Institute, an independent academic think tank for environmental research and policy analysis, the consortium benefits from the active engagement of REGEA, the Croatian regional energy agency and knowledge centre providing innovative solutions in the energy and environmental sector, of EnergiaKlub, the Hungarian Climate Policy Institute and of Energy Cities Romania, a network formed of local authorities in energy transition.
As cities are at the forefront of the climate crisis, facing severe impacts because of heat stress, extreme weather events, climate change impacts, the EU aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 as part of the European Green Deal, to fulfil its commitments under the Paris Agreement. Because the path towards climate neutrality is difficult and cannot be established only by the local authorities, it is essential that a roadmap to be built by the administration together with the local actors and stakeholders, but especially together with the citizens. This path must be accepted, co-created and assumed by the society as a whole, otherwise standing no real chance of success. The world faces a turning point, a momentum when it needs to rethink how it produces and consumes energy, exploits and conserves resources, mitigates and adapts to climate change, protects and reduces the negative impact on the environment.
Against this background, city-wide long-term climate neutrality strategies are a critical tool to drive the necessary socio-ecological transformation, as these strategies set appropriate targets and identify the policies necessary to achieve them. These can also help to build political support for measures by engaging stakeholders and experts in the process, thus creating ownership. Cities are well-positioned to tackle the climate crisis, thanks to their density, concentrated populations, and control over decisions regarding energy supply, transport, mobility, land use planning, building regulations or stormwater and waste management. Yet, they also face several key barriers to develop and implement long-term climate neutrality strategies including limited powers to leverage systemic change and limited financial resources for tackling the efforts needed for a just transition.
Ready4NetZero will create knowledge resources (written guidance), training and capacity building activities (webinars, workshops), networking (a study visit, an international conference), all to support city officials and municipal staff to develop and implement local long-term climate strategies. In eight pilot cities in Poland, Croatia, Hungary and Romania, the project will kickstart concrete campaigns or actions that will contribute to developing local climate neutrality strategies. Such actions will include co-creating the vision for a climate neutral city in 2050, launching stakeholders’ engagement campaigns or conducting studies to sustain status quo analysis, as basis for the strategies.
This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. More information can be found at www.euki.de/en.
