Brussels time
Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.
This call aims to support zhe preparedness and capacity of national, regional and local authorities in EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe to engage in cities’ transition towards climate neutrality.
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Cities are increasingly taking a leading role in the green and digital transition. 100 EU cities and 12 cities from countries associated to Horizon Europe have raised their ambition by joining the Climate-neutral and smart cities Mission and actively pursuing their transition towards climate-neutrality by 2030. Many more cities across Europe expressed their willingness to engage in climate neutrality pathways and actively engage with the Mission. National and regional authorities have a key role to play to support cities ambition and facilitate the process.
The objective of this action is to strengthen existing national networks in Member States and Associated Countries as well as encourage and support the creation of such structures in countries where this has not yet taken place and empower them to act as clearly identifiable national contacts to support cities in pursuing their climate neutrality ambition and related targets.
Such networks by combining relevant multi-level (e.g. national, regional and local) institutional competence and multi-stakeholders capacities, expertise, and responsibilities, would ensure coherence across city-relevant policy, financing and regulatory frameworks and promote higher efficacy and impact of undertaken action plans.
The project should build upon, broaden and further upscale the activities, tools, methods, and approaches developed under the CapaCITIES project whilst expanding its geographical coverage to cover preferably the entire EU, enhancing institutional competence by involving all relevant actors and working in close collaboration and complementarity with the Cities Mission Platform.Proposals should:
To avoid unnecessary proliferation of national networks with overlapping competences, duplication of efforts and uncertainty by cities as to which relevant “interlocutors” to approach, applicants must take into account and build upon existing, planned or ongoing relevant national, regional or local activities and structures aiming to foster climate-neutrality in cities.
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
See the full list in the General Annexes.
Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
Total indicative budget is EUR 3 000 000.
The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of 3.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.
Brussels time