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100 cities from European Union member states plus 12 cities from associated countries have been selected to join the EU Mission: 100 Climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 to pursue ambitious goals to slash emissions rapidly and pioneer innovative approaches with citizens and stakeholders.

71 of the municipalities that have been selected to join the Mission are Eurocities members.

Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence, and President of Eurocities said he was honoured to be part of the 100 family cities and glad to see those 71 members of the network are on board.

“Being selected as one of the 100 climate-neutral and smart cities is an excellent opportunity for us to scale and speed up our climate actions, to become climate neutral by 2030. It’s an ambitious goal but we will be able to learn a lot from other cities to meet the challenge.

“However, we will not forget about the other cities that did not make it to this stage – they share our ambition, and we will work with them to continue their journey towards climate neutrality by 2030 or soon after. We need all governments, businesses, and people to pull in the same direction to stand a chance of achieving European and global climate goals,” said Nardella.

These cities will be supported by NetZeroCities to bring together all key players within a city, including citizens, academia, and businesses and implement transformative processes and innovative actions, with the objective of reaching climate neutrality by 2030.

NetZeroCities is developing the Mission Platform, a one-stop for cities providing access to a wealth of online resources and tools, an online peer learning and collaboration space, as well as zero-carbon technology and innovation factsheets to support cities on their journey to climate neutrality by 2030.

Mission Cities will start their journey with the creation of their Climate City Contract, a suite of strategic, planning and investment documents, applying innovative governance and a systemic approach to enable and speed up their climate neutrality programme.

Not only that, funding opportunities for cities to become part of innovative demonstration actions will be available, as well as a broad network for learning and the exchange of experiences, and high visibility worldwide to attract highly skilled workers and investments.

Along the way, best practices case studies and guides are planned to support cities in replicating good practices and enabling cities to work together to overcome barriers. Together, they’ll develop and deploy solutions and will become early adopters of the policies and practices to get to climate neutrality.

For cities and for the planet as a whole, the benefits are many. Local communities will benefit from the reduction of air and noise pollution, less traffic, lower energy bills and an overall healthier environment. New business opportunities will arise, and the engagement of the community is fundamental so everyone can participate, have a say and enjoy the long-term solutions for common city problems.

For the 250 cities that have high ambitions for climate neutrality within the decade but were not selected, NetZeroCities will also provide support for them through the Mission Platform and peer learning opportunities working with Mission Cities through the journey. It’s important that the experiences and lessons learned are shared with a much larger group of cities to speed up the transformation to climate neutrality.

These are 71 Eurocities members who have been selected as Mission Cities: