Ten european cities awarded with EU Mission Label for their plans to reach climate-neutrality by 2030

Last week, ten European cities were awarded the Label of the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, one of the EU Missions in Horizon Europe. The EU Mission Label is an important milestone as it recognises the cities’ plans to achieve climate-neutrality already by 2030 and aims to facilitate access to public and private funding towards that objective.

The cities that have received the label are: Sønderborg (Denmark), Mannheim (Germany), Madrid, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza (Spain), Klagenfurt (Austria), Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and Stockholm (Sweden).

The EU Mission Label is an acknowledgement of the successful development of Climate City Contracts, which outline the cities’ overall vision for climate neutrality, and contain an action plan as well as an investment strategy. Cities co-create their Climate City Contracts with local stakeholders, including the private sector and citizens. A first group of cities presented their Contracts in April 2023, which were reviewed by the Commission with the support of experts, including from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Following a positive review, cities receive an EU Mission Label, which is intended to facilitate access to EU, national, and regional funding and financing sources, in particular private investment.

Cities and towns are at the frontline of the just green transition. Full engagement is needed at local level to meet the 55% greenhouse gas emission reduction target by 2030 and the commitment to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. The ten cities that are being awarded today are true pioneers: I am impressed with their commitments for concrete actions, but this is only the beginning: the cities need help from their national and regional governments, their local businesses, investors and innovators, to put their plans into practice. I invite all of them to engage with the cities and to see how they can contribute. I also encourage all cities in Europe to follow suit and become frontrunners for climate neutrality.

Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President for European Green deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight – 12/10/2023

Read all the European Commission’s press release here!