Awarding of the EU Mission Label to Ten European Cities for Their Plans to Become Climate Neutral by 2030

Ten European cities today received the EU Mission Label for climate-neutral and smart cities, which is one of the EU missions under the “Horizon Europe” program. The EU Mission Label is a significant milestone, as it recognizes the cities’ plans to achieve climate neutrality as early as 2030 and aims to facilitate access to public and private funding to achieve this goal.
The cities that 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 a recognition of the successful development of urban climate contracts, which outline the cities’ overall vision for climate neutrality and include an action plan and investment strategy. Cities develop urban climate contracts in collaboration with local stakeholders, including the private sector and citizens. In April 2023, a first group of cities submitted their contracts, 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 evaluation, cities are awarded the mission label, which aims to facilitate access to EU, national and regional funding sources, especially private investments. These ten cities are paving the way for other cities to accelerate their path towards a just green and digital transition, and serve as an example of inclusive policy co-creation at the local level. In total, 100 EU cities participate in the EU “Cities” mission, with 12 additional cities from countries associated with the “Horizon Europe” program.