53 cities from 21 European countries have been selected to participate in a two-year programme to experiment and try new ways to decrease emissions and accelerate the transition to sustainable cities.
The selected cities will look at solutions contributing to climate neutrality, including mobility, energy systems and sustainable buildings, as well as accessible public spaces. From Sweden, the cities of Malmö, Uppsala and Umeå have been granted funding.
The Pilot Cities will act as testbeds for taking systemic, inclusive, and multi-level approaches to transform city systems. Over the course of the programme, the cities will reflect and learn as they go, providing opportunities for other cities to follow in their footsteps, and adapt the solutions to their local contexts. The cities that were not selected as Pilot Cities at this stage will instead be able to join a twinning and teaming programme together with the selected cities.
The activities in the pilot programme will be supported by €32 million in grants from the NetZeroCities project. These grants are funded by Horizon 2020, the EU framework programme for research and innovation preceding the current Horizon Europe programme.
Read more on the NetZeroCities website.
