A week on from the deadline, it's confirmed that 377 cities submitted an Expression of Interest to the Horizon Europe Mission for climate-neutral and smart cities. 

On this announcement, Matthew Baldwin, Manager of the Cities Mission said: 'It is going to be a momentous challenge but we will tackle it together. Action against climate change is urgent and citizens deserve the co-benefits of these actions: less air pollution, noise, road congestion and fewer deaths. We want thriving livable cities to regenerate our planet. We will now begin a careful and rigorous process to select the 100 cities with independent experts.' Read more from the European Commission here.

ERRIN is working on the Cities Mission, with Working Groups such as Smart Cities, but is also closely involved with the Mission through its projects NetZeroCities and MOSAIC. In NetZeroCities, one of ERRIN's key activities is in the contribution to the development of the Climate City Contract process – both the set-up of the process as well as the launch, co-creation and signing of the climate contracts.

In MOSAIC, ERRIN is leading the Community of Practice who will test the project's co-creation methodology, rooted in the activities of the Climate City Contracts. At the end of last year, 16 cities and regions applied to join MOSAIC's Community of Practice, 14 of which are ERRIN members. MOSAIC's partners went on to run eight one-to-one meetings for the cities as they prepared their applications. We look forward to the results of the first selection of cities in Spring 2022 as ERRIN will continue to MOSAIC's Community of Practice as cities kick-start co-creation activities within the Mission and develop their Climate City Contracts. 

Follow ERRIN's work on the Cities Mission here.