European Commission creates Climate City Capital Hub

Cities are responsible for more than 70 percent. global_CO2 emissions and consume more than 65 percent of the energy produced. Action in urban areas is therefore crucial to mitigating climate change and can help accelerate efforts to meet the commitment to achieve EU-wide climate neutrality by 2050, as well as the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 and the overall implementation of the European Green Deal. To meet these challenges, the European Commission has decided to establish a new ClimateCity Capital Hub.

Climate City Capital Hub

The Climate City Capital Hub is an initiative to facilitate public and private financing for sustainable urban development and accelerate Europe’s transition to climate neutrality. The initiative enables cities to achieve their climate goals and implement projects through both technical assistance and capital facilitation. Climate City Capital Hub works closely with cities participating in the climate neutrality project, supporting the work from action planning to implementation with a range of tools and services.

With the new initiative, cities that have already received the EU Climate Neutrality Mission label will be able to:

• gain access to financial advice from the European Investment Bank (EIB);
• structure their financing needs to understand the different ways to finance projects, including combining them;
• Introduce capital providers, including public and private sector lenders and investors (such as philanthropic and corporate capital, as well as innovative crowdfunding and sustainability-linked bonds) to projects, and support during the closing process.

In addition, according to the European Commission’s website, the EIB has earmarked €2 billion to support cities’ plans related to investments in energy, efficient buildings, district heating systems, renewable energy, sustainable mobility, urban renewal and revitalization, water and social infrastructure.

Key tenets of Climate City Capital Hub

The Climate City Capital Hub will be established with the support of the EU’s mission on climate-neutral and smart cities, as well as the EU’s mission on climate change adaptation. Special emphasis will be placed on cooperation with private capital. For cities that have signed the Climate Change Adaptation Mission Charter and received the EU Climate Neutral Cities Mission Mark, services will cover both projects seeking to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Climate City Capital Hub will be led by the European Commission’s Platform for Climate Change. to carry out its urban mission, which is currently managed by the NetZeroCities project. The Commission announced its creation at the Cities Mission Conference held in Valencia on June 25-26, 2024.

EU mission mark for climate-neutral and smart cities

The EU’s mission for climate-neutral and smart cities is to help achieve climate neutrality and provide citizens with cleaner air, safer transportation and reduced traffic congestion and noise. With this mission, EU cities are at the forefront of decarbonization efforts, driving change and acting as pioneers for climate action.

To date, 33 cities have received the EU’s Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission label. This is a milestone in the quest for climate neutrality. The main goal of the mission is to develop agreements that outline the cities’ overall vision for climate neutrality and include plans: investment and action. Cities co-design their agreements with local parties, including the private sector and citizens. Of the 33 investment plans submitted so far, some 114.1 billion euros have been allocated for climate action – an average of 3.6 billion per city. The European Commission is currently reviewing another 23 climate city agreements. For more information, see a previous article in Water Matters: Climate Neutral Cities.

In April 2022. 100 cities from the EU and 12 from countries associated with the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program were selected to participate in the mission. They are testing innovative cross-sectoral approaches, including citizen engagement, internal governance and stakeholders, to accelerate their move toward climate neutrality. As a result, by 2050. All European cities will have the opportunity to model their projects after them.