Climate-neutral cities in transition & Conference closing

The European Commission launched the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities to deliver the climate neutrality of 100 European cities by 2030. In light of this ambitious goal, practitioners from cities of various size and starting points will share concrete examples and next steps to inspire transition process in regions benefiting from the JTM. As local stakeholders and citizens are drivers of the climate transition, cities participating in the EU Mission will explore innovative governance methods to build inclusiveness, trust and legitimacy of the necessary climate actions at the local level. In this session, a number of cities from the Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities will present their place-based practices and measures to attain a just transition towards climate neutrality. The session will also investigate levers and challenges specific to coal and carbon-intensive regions. These relate to setting up the Climate City Contracts, such as the multi-level governance dialogue, multi-stakeholder partnership, and bottom-up and participatory approach.

The session will close with reflections on the outcomes and ways forward from the 6th Just Transition Platform Conference.

Interpretation is available in English, German, French, Greek, Spanish, and Polish. To change the language, click on the channel settings found at the bottom right corner of the player.

Agenda (All times are in CEST)

16:30 - 16:35 Introduction by the moderator

• Carsten Rothballer, Secretariat of the Initiative for coal regions in transition

16:35 - 16:45 Welcome and Introduction to the EU Mission on Climate Neutral and Smart Cities

• Patrick Child, Deputy Director General, DG Environment

16:45 - 16:50 Climate City Contracts as an instrument

• Roman Serdar Mendle, ICLEI, Net Zero Cities

16:50 - 17:10 Cities present their approach

• Local key stakeholder engagement and how the EU Mission support here
• Climate neutrality narrative and how the EU Mission supports their ambition for a just transition towards climate neutral future

Representatives of climate neutral mission cities:

• Janet Ågren , Deputy Mayor of City of Umeå
• Iztok Mori, Head of Municipal Administration of City of Velenje
• Lazaros Maloutas, Mayor of City of Kozani

17:10 - 17:50 Panel discussion with cities Velenje, Kozani and Umeå on

• EU policies to enable the transition
• Local actions building on the policies

17:50 - 18:00 Closing remarks on the conference as a whole

• Balbina Gluza-Czyczerska, Just Transition Platform Coordinator, DG REGIO