Building sustainable, future-proof food systems

Empowering local players, making wise use of our resources and living within our planet’s boundaries requires sound, democratic decision-making processes.  

We, at Energy Cities, are driven by a desire to strengthen the role and skills of local governments to ensure local communities’ well-being and to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality. The Energy Cities Hubs are the community spaces dedicated to our members that:   

• Activate local leaders to deliver living spaces that are accessible to everyone  
• Empower local communities to decide on their own future  
• Inspire a learning community of cities engaged in future-proofing their economies  

Our 5 Hubs, launching in April, will be a new way of structuring the activities of our network. Stay tuned in the coming weeks to find out more!

Today, we’re exploring the Future-proof food systems & land policies Hub. 

What will we achieve with the “Future-proof food systems & land policies” Hub?  

Food systems account for nearly one-third of global GHG emissions and have a huge impact on natural resources, biodiversity and health. Transitioning to locally rooted food systems will be of paramount importance if we want to stay within the planetary boundaries. On the other hand, food also represents a key connecting element across and within different cultures: it is central in our existence and plays a key role as a cultural, social and economic pillar in our society. Recent trends such as citizen gardens and municipal farms demonstrate a general interest for alternatives to mainstreamed food systems.

Are you wondering how to accelerate the transition to sustainable and resilient food systems at local level? Or how can an integrated and effective urban food governance accelerate food systems transitions? Are you curious about the right instruments for cities to support alternative food initiatives and promote soil health and land regeneration? Then this Hub is for you!  

  

Within this Hub, we will offer your city inspiration and exchange opportunities to foster cross-sectorial learning and cross-fertilise different policy areas, exploring ways and strategies to accelerate the transition towards sustainable & resilient food systems. 

Concretely, what does it mean? 

Through a series of activities that we will provide within this Hub, we will: 

• Make sure that our members are up to date and informed about the latest EU policy developments through policy briefs for local policy makers with key updates on major EU policy files  
• Organise discussions between local political leaders and key EU policy makers on concrete proposals in support of cities’ climate transition 
• Help our members build their capacities in order to facilitate their transition journey; we will achieve this with training, coaching, tools and peer-to-peer exchanges 
• Facilitate our members’ access to EU funding with info sessions, matchmaking events and projects’ ideas labs. We will also run competitive calls for funding on specific topics. 

Ready to join the Future-proof food systems & land policies Hub? 

As our member, you can join and benefit, free-of-charge, from all the activities of our five Hubs, aligned with our intervention systems and impact targets. By joining our Hubs, you become part of our learning community of local practitioners with different backgrounds and fields of expertise: political representatives, technicians and city officers, all sharing the same vision: reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

Interested in the Future-proof food systems & land policies Hub? Get in touch to pre-register here.  

We launched our Hubs during our Annual Forum in April, and we will keep you posted in the coming weeks.