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00:00Hi everyone, my name is Eugenia Monsutti, I am Senior Policy and Projects Coordinator at Eurocities
00:10and I'm coordinating the work with new cities joining the Cities Mission platform that is
00:15supporting the 112 mission cities becoming climate neutral by 2030. So today I'm going to give you a
00:22short presentation of the 100 climate neutral and smart cities mission, give you an understanding
00:28on how cities that are not yet part of the mission so not part of those 112 can take part and you're
00:35going to learn about the support that the mission platform currently managed by the netzero cities
00:39project will offer to cities going forward. So I will start with a presentation of the mission
00:48explaining who can join this new program that we are building and then how we are planning to expand
00:55the mission platform support services with activities that will be online focused on learning
01:00will be between peers at the EU level and between peers at the national level. So we are on a mission
01:07what does it mean? The European Commission has launched the mission for 100 climate neutral
01:12and smart cities by 2030 in the last mandate with the objective to achieve 100 and in this case more
01:21because there are also cities from associated countries not part of the European Union so 112
01:25climate neutral and smart European cities by 2030 and to ensure that these cities can act as
01:32experimentation and innovation hubs to help all other cities in Europe to follow suit to be inspired by
01:37these innovative approaches and new ways of working that the selected cities are piloting. And all this work
01:44that has been launched and it is supported by the European Commission it is managed by a project that is
01:51called netzero cities with the mission platform which is the support structure for the work of these
01:59112 cities that is providing cities with world class expertise and services that are tailored to their needs
02:05to achieve this very very ambitious goal of climate neutrality in 2030.
02:10The way the mission cities so the 112 mission cities are doing that is through a series of
02:20deep transformation in the way the municipality works and in the way the municipality works
02:25with the other levels of governance and the other stakeholders in the city.
02:29So they do that with setting up a transition team that works cross-captain between the different city departs.
02:35They have city advisors that provide them support expertise and really tailored guidance they follow
02:42specific steps. This climate transition map that I'll go back to in a moment which is basically
02:48the blueprint for reaching climate neutrality. They can access city learning programs to deepen their
02:56knowledge on specific topics linked to climate neutrality both on the governance aspects or on the
03:02innovation technology aspects. There is a portal an online portal that is available for them to
03:09exchange with others and to access all this wealth of resources and then the real key of all this work
03:15is the climate city contract that you see here on the slide in this road to climate neutrality which is
03:22the planning document of the municipality and it lays down the actions the resources the timeline for
03:28achieving climate neutrality by 2030 and it's accompanied by an action plan and an investment plan.
03:35And what is very important about the climate city contract is that it is a contract is not just signed
03:39by the municipality but is also signed by the other actors that in the city contribute to this work
03:45that includes businesses, privates, universities, academia, citizens, organized civil society and so on.
03:54And then they can benefit from pilot projects so this pilot city program that is financing specific projects
04:02in cities, a training program to put them in contact with other cities in Europe with a mutual exchange of
04:10knowledge and good practices and a capital hub that is helping those cities to connect with the public and
04:18especially private financing based on this investment plan that they're building.
04:24But going actually beyond the 112 we said it one second ago, the mission is not only about delivering
04:32100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030, it's also about making sure that these cities can help
04:37others to follow suit by 2050. 2050 is the target year that in the European Green Deal the commission
04:44established for reaching climate neutrality for the whole European continent. So what is very
04:51important is actually that we are able to capitalize on the tremendous transformations and the enormous work
04:57that these 112 cities are doing and to try to make sure that other cities can learn from the approaches
05:05that are implemented. And when we talk about the mission approach, we identified three key elements
05:12to summarize it in a more comprehensible way. So the first key element of the mission approach is the
05:19climate transition map, which is a systemic transition pathway for reaching climate neutrality in such a
05:25short time, it's not possible to stick to the old ways of doing things and working in silos or like sector to
05:32sector domain by domain. So this climate transition map is something that has been developed for the 112 mission cities
05:41to really create a pathway, a road towards climate neutrality for them with a journey that is inclusive,
05:49that is iterative, where there is lots of co-creation and testing and where cities are allowed to also
05:55experiment. So what you see here are the seven steps, seven core elements of the transition and cities can be at
06:04different steps at the same time. So this is something that is really one of the key core elements of the
06:10mission approach and that we are opening up to other cities, to cities that are not yet part of the
06:18mission platform to learn from. A second core element is the deep collaboration. So deep collaboration,
06:26it's about really coordinated action of multiple actors across sectors. So that includes what needs to be
06:34done within the city administration with the setting up of a transition team, with the setting up of all the
06:40structures in the municipality to make sure that the different sectors of the administration work
06:45together in an integrated way, but also with other actors in the local ecosystem. So here in this slide
06:52you can see local private actors, public agencies, civil society actors, city governments, of course
07:01different like also utilities of the municipality should collaborate to that,
07:05the academia and the research institutions and having so the cooperation actually with all these actors
07:18also outside of the municipality needs as we were saying this transition team. So this central point of
07:25coordination within the municipality to orchestrate the process. And then the third element that we identified as
07:32the key for the mission approach is the working with portfolios of actions. So really to act on
07:40systemic barriers that address simultaneously several levels of change. So here you see on this slide an
07:46example of net zero mobility. What is really important to to see here is that the mission approach is really about
07:54identifying the trade-offs and co-benefits of climate action in the short and in the longer term and
07:59integrating the portfolio of actions in a way that we are able to to estimate actually the contribution
08:06of all the different sectors to the wider objective of climate neutrality and not working in silos. And
08:11as soon as you start taking this portfolio approach you realize that actually there are way more co-benefits
08:17and links between different actions that you would have imagined in the first in the first time.
08:23And so this work that we are starting with cities that are not yet part of the mission it really
08:32open so this work of opening up the mission approach and enabling learning from what's been developed
08:39by the 112 mission cities it's really open to any cities wanting to learn and to embark on a journey
08:45towards climate neutrality. At any stage they are in their current journey so it will also be open of course to
08:51cities that for example have not yet even started monitoring their greenhouse emissions and then
08:58depending on their climate commitments so for example if they already have a climate neutrality
09:03target by 2050 they will have access to different levels of support and we will get back to that in a
09:08second and this will be done by the opening and training on tools resources and approaches developed
09:13by mission cities that will include this climate transition map we were mentioning and we will also have
09:19exclusive peer learning opportunities so site visits twinnings learning courses but also engagement
09:25at the national level with peers from the same national ecosystems and so yes indeed this will be done
09:31with a mix of online and in-person learning activities that will start with the use of the net zero cities portal
09:39so this online platform and including online groups study visits twinnings and this engagement at national
09:45and regional level so the work we are doing to expand the mission platform support services will be made
09:53mainly of three components online and learning peer engagement at u level and peer engagement at the
09:59national level our starting point is really that we want the mission platform to be an accelerator of
10:05climate action for all cities wanting to becoming climate neutral in europe so when it comes to the online
10:12and learning we are working with training for new cities on planning and financing tools support pathways
10:22inspiring examples from mission cities and organizing workshops and courses that can also give academic
10:29credits that's something that we are developing a bit later in the program for for cities wanting to join
10:36there will be three programs for engagement as the uh between peers at the eu level so online peer discussion
10:43groups that will then lead to study visits in person uh in the mission cities and twinnings between mission
10:50cities and other cities and then at the national level there will be organization of events in um in the
10:59countries where mission cities are located uh so we have uh we work on a work plan uh country by country uh
11:07linking really the work that cities are doing with the wider climate neutrality objectives
11:12to also create spaces for debate and training including events that can be at the political level and
11:18also technical level mobilizing national stakeholders such as ministries and national agencies and working with
11:25national platforms and there is also a dedicated help desk for cities wanting to engage in this program
11:32that is always available so when we go to the online and learning here i just have a few slides with some
11:39examples one of the things that you have developed are climate neutrality support pathways so it's a curated
11:46list of resources and tools that can be useful for cities wanting to engage in this process
11:52that address the needs uh that were highlighted by cities when we started this program
11:57and will be uh kept updated with new opportunities and so these uh support pathways will really point
12:04cities to the right resources uh given the challenges that they're experiencing in their um in their path
12:12towards climate neutrality using the climate transition map as a blueprint for that those are the topics of
12:17those uh support pathways and they're already online on the nancyro cities portal uh by uh sorry since um
12:26a couple of weeks ago then we have tools that have been developed to help mission cities that we are now
12:34uh making available and actually uh providing more uh training on how to use them for news
12:40uh is the finance guidance tool that cities to identify finance options and support investment
12:48planning uh answering to a sort of uh of questionnaire uh so if a city has a project idea they can run it
12:55through the tool and find some hints and we on where to find appropriate uh funding for uh or financing
13:02for that specific project idea and we are organizing trainings for cities on how to use the tool another
13:08one is the net zero planner also a very interesting one that is already online but we want to organize
13:14specific trainings actually for our cities on how to use it it was used already by around 50 maybe a bit
13:22less mission cities and it's an online cost benefit analysis tool which helps cities to create improve
13:28and track their climate action plan it gives an analysis of the decarbonization subsectors it helps to
13:35monetize co-benefits especially health improvements uh turning those benefits into financial gains and
13:43something that is very interesting for cities in the moment with when they will be developing their
13:49climate action plan or revising their climate action plan is that it can help to test different
13:54scenarios and ambition levels so providing also flexibility to plan for future challenges
13:59opportunities then when it comes to the peer and eu engagement we have launched online discussion
14:06groups with mission cities that are focused on concrete challenges and domains cities have applied
14:10to to participate in these discussion groups uh but don't worry because the first group has started
14:16but there will be uh two others uh going forward in the future and so if you're interested you didn't miss
14:22the train and they will be leading to study visits to mission cities for cities that already have a
14:28climate neutrality target um and then we will have a new twinning learning program for 30 cities um that
14:36will be focused on deep learning from mission cities over a longer period of time so there will be study
14:40visits but also really in-depth uh exchanges between expert and city officers in the two cities
14:47administrations um on specific topics and strategies so they can be also linked to uh they can be also useful
14:55actually for cities that are not part of the mission to get inspired for example when they will have
15:01to revise their action plan when they will have to increase their ambition to climate neutrality compared
15:06to their current commitments or uh maybe they already have a commitment that it's uh that is signed by
15:12the mayor to becoming climate neutral by 2050 at the latest which is a precondition for participating and they
15:18want to to understand how to do that in practice so they can learn from successful approaches in mission cities
15:23in a more tailored and uh really um one-on-one uh way and then finally the engagement at the national
15:32level um we it's not surprising actually how important it is for cities and how dependent they are
15:40from the national level to be uh to be really considered in in national policies because of course
15:46the actions that are implemented at the local level inform national strategies and the national level has a huge
15:52role in providing support and to give in the direction and the right regulatory impulse for
15:58changes to happen also at the local level so in recognition of this crucial role of national
16:04governments in climate neutrality we have a full range of activities that will take place at the
16:09national level with upscaling of successful learning approaches try to involve cities in the design and
16:16implementation of national policies and also to support cities in creating alliances with different
16:20sectors at the national level including industry academia agencies but also to connect among themselves
16:27in their national ecosystem in their national language and so what we are going to do will be to
16:33organize national events with the involvement of mission cities and other cities in europe and the
16:38associated countries creating opportunities for dedicated technical assistance organizing awareness raising
16:44uh events with national policy makers and enabling cities to participate into existing national platforms
16:51and there is also a european project that is called capacities you see here in the slide just a snapshot
16:59that is also supporting cities to um to go towards climate neutrality with a very strong national component
17:07component so we also have a a very close collaboration with this project as part of the work that we're
17:13doing on the mission platform to conclude uh i i add here my contacts uh if you want to get in touch about
17:21any of these opportunities and we also have a dedicated help desk for cities at info cities at netzero cities dot
17:26cities dot you so for cities that are not part of the mission yet but would like to engage with us
17:32in becoming climate neutral by 2050. thank you