Practitioner or strategic: which city panel is right for you ?

As we already announced in a recent article, the European Commission launched the Mission on 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030.The objectives of the mission are to achieve 100 climate-neutral and smart European cities by 2030 and for these cities to become experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050.

NetZeroCities is committed to developing a range of demand-driven support services that respond to cities’ identified needs and have been user-tested by cities during the design phase (2022-2023). As such, the NetZeroCities project is convening two City Panels to give cities the chance to provide direct input and help shape the project’s products, services and processes. There are two opportunities to participate:

• The Practitioner Panel seeks technical and administrative staff actively working on climate neutrality in their city and who will be the primary users of the forthcoming One-Stop-Shop Platform.
• The Strategic Panel seeks Mayors, Deputy Mayors and/or high-level decision makers actively involved with climate governance and strategic, integrated policymaking. This panel will principally advise and observe the Climate City Contract process.

Participating in a NetZeroCities City Panel will give your city the opportunity to directly influence the design of the One-Stop-Shop Platform, Climate City Contract process, and the range of tools and services that will be available to help cities on their journey to climate neutrality by 2030.

Any city is eligible to apply and there will be no perceived conflict of interest should your city apply to join the 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and/or to become a pilot or twin city at a later stage in the project. However, only one applicant per city will be considered to encourage geographic and cultural diversity.

More information about the panels (including FAQs) as well as the application form to join one of the City Panels can be found here.

The deadline for application is the 4^th of February.