A Mission on 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030
The Cities Mission engages various stakeholders, including local, regional and national authorities, citizens, businesses, universities and investors, to achieve 111 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. The selected cities developed Climate City Contracts, which were co-created with the entire local ecosystem, including citizens, and which outline the city’s roadmap to climate neutrality.
These cities (called Mission Cities) act as hubs for experimentation and innovation, aiming to inspire other cities to follow by 2050 (Mission-minded cities). All governance levels as well as the Mission Platform, currently managed by the NetZeroCities project, will support these processes.
At this date, 92 cities have received the EU Mission Label and will gain access to the Climate City Capital Hub which provides tailored financial advice in cooperation with the EIB and connects cities with investors.
ERRIN plays several roles in supporting the implementation of the Cities Mission through the NetZeroCities platform and the CapaCITIES 2.0 project.
Within NetZeroCities, ERRIN acts as a bridge between the cities' needs and the support provided by experts from partner organisations through its two City Advisors. ERRIN also plays an active role in creating synergies with other European initiatives and projects, in providing policy recommendations to improve the implementation of Climate City Contracts, in facilitating the Twinning-learning programme to allow other European cities to learn from the 111 Mission Cities, and in strengthening multi-level governance.
Through its involvement in the CapaCITIES 2.0 project, ERRIN is building on the work carried out in NetZeroCities project and its multi-level governance experiences to further explore and strengthen the key role of regions in implementing the Cities Mission, thanks to expanding existing national platforms and establishing new ones across the EU. ERRIN plays a key role in identifying and enhancing regional level enabling conditions, assesses how regions can better assist cities in achieving climate neutrality targets, and enhances collaboration and impact by facilitating dialogues and exchanges between different governance levels.
NetZeroCities, CapaCITIES 2.0 projects as well as the Low Carbon Cluster, and more specifically the Smart Cities Working Group, enable ERRIN members to be actively involved in the Cities Mission. The currently open opportunities are:
- Join the Cities Mission online discussion groups from September 2025 to February 2026
- Get ready for the Horizon Europe calls 2026-2027 – check out the latest draft published by the European Commission (July 2025)
- Participate in the EU Missions Info Days on 20 and 21 January 2026 to get an overview of the new 2026 call topics featured in the EU Missions Work Programme 2026–2027 under Horizon Europe
- Have a look to the 2025 Low Carbon Cluster Annual Plan including the Smart Cities Working Group events: Low Carbon Cluster Annual Plan July 2025_0.pdf
- Save the date for the annual EU Cities Mission conference taking place on 28-29 May 2026 in Torino (Italy)
ERRIN Secretariat
Get in touch with the Secretariat coordinating ERRIN's work on the Cities Mission
