The European Commission, through its Mission “100 Climate Neutral Cities by 2030, by and for Citizens,” promotes an unprecedented transformation process that will lead to safer, healthier, more sustainable and thriving cities, with the capacity to generate massive employment, increase welfare, improve the quality of life and reduce inequalities in cities.
On 28 April 2022, the 100 selected cities were announced, including seven
Spanish cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Valladolid, Vitoria-Gasteiz and
Zaragoza, which are part of the citiES 2030 initiative, incubated and launched by
“El Día Después.”
Implementing this instrument requires cities to face challenges and barriers
mainly in five key areas: Policy and governance; local capacity building; culture,
social innovation and participation; sustainable financing; and implementation
practices and strategic learning. However, these challenges can be turned into
great opportunities for transformation within and outside public administration.
The mission in Spain summer course
EIT Climate-KIC is co-organising a four-day hands-on course—The mission in Spain—with Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo de Santander (UIMP) at the Magdalena Palace in Santander. The course will run from 18 to 21 July 2022. It is intended for public officials, professionals in the fields of urban, social and environmental issues, companies, consulting firms, universities, students of any discipline, as well as anyone who wishes to make their way in the field of transforming cities towards more sustainable and fairer models. The course is available in-person and online. It will be held in Spanish and will simultaneously be translated to English.
The programme will focus on identifying innovative tools and instruments that help cities turn previously identified barriers into opportunities to transform current models and implement the mission, along with:
- Generating the framework for municipal officials and other key actors in the
implementation of the Mission to exchange learnings and build a community; - Introducing a systemic vision that ensures the transformability and scalability of future
city actions; - Building new approaches to work and a common vision that contributes to overcoming
barriers to transformation; - Connecting and involving citizens in urban transformation processes in Spanish cities;
Facilitating strategic thinking.
EIT Climate-KIC’s city insights
Join EIT Climate-KIC’s Thomas Osdoba, who is working on NetZeroCities, as well as EIT Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop at “European missions: An effective instrument to implement the EU Green Deal” on 18 July at 10:00 a.m. Thomas Osdoba will also be speaking at “Multilevel governance and the development of climate contracts” on 19 July at 10:00 a.m.