The European Commission has announced the 100 EU cities that will participate in the EU Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030.
The 100 cities come from all 27 Member States, and there will also be an additional 12 cities from countries associated or with the potential of being associated to Horizon Europe. Cities are seen by the Commission as the ideal ecosystems to achieve the transition to climate-neutrality by 2050, especially considering that urban areas are home to over 75% of EU citizens.
The Cities Mission will receive €360 million of Horizon Europe funding covering the period 2022-23, to start the innovation paths towards climate neutrality by 2030.
The research and innovation actions will specifically focus on:
- clean mobility
- energy efficiency
- green urban planning
There is also the possibility to build joint initiatives and increase collaborations with other EU programmes and projects in order to further the impact of the funding.
This focus on synergies with existing initiatives and programmes is particularly encouraging for Greenovate! Europe and its work to support European cities through projects such as HOOP.
HOOP, funded by Horizon 2020, supports 8 lighthouse cities and regions in developing large-scale urban circular bioeconomy initiatives that will focus on making bio-based products from urban biowaste and wastewater. Of HOOP’s eight lighthouse cities, three have been selected to form part of 100 climate-neutral and smart cities: Münster (Germany), Greater Porto (Portugal), and Kozani (Greece).