Close to 60 European cities and platforms have endorsed a joint Development Declaration to speed up the climate transition in cities. The document has been handed over to the European Commission and will be used as leverage in further joint efforts towards climate-neutral cities.
The fourteen Swedish and Spanish cities among the 112 European Mission Cities have formed a joint declaration on upscaling the EU Cities Mission, supported by the national platforms Viable Cities and CitiES2030. The document illustrates the need for a common approach to 'scaling as the new normal', and calls on European decision-makers and national government representatives to support the Cities Mission. It also provides concrete points of action for cities to accelerate their transition.
At the annual Cities Mission conference in Valencia last June, the Development Declaration for the Cities Mission was presented and additional cities and stakeholders were invited to endorse the points in the document. Since the launch of the Declaration in Valencia, around 60 EU Cities Mission cities, networks of cities and national platforms in 15 EU Member States have officially expressed their support. In December, the Declaration was sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the newly appointed administration. Work is now underway to disseminate and raise awareness of the declaration in relevant fora. As part of this, Viable Cities and CitieES 2030 have initiated dialogues with Swedish and Spanish MEPs and interparliamentary groups focusing on climate-neutral and sustainable cities.
- The Declaration represents a common voice of cities, networks and platforms across Europe and sends a strong signal to the EU and its institutions. Looking ahead, we see it as crucial to keep the focus on supporting pioneering cities, enabling many more to follow in their footsteps, and that this is done in collaboration with government agencies and other actors at different levels of governance, says Olga Kordas, Programme Manager at Viable Cities.
The Development Declaration for the Cities Mission is supported by:
- Gothenburg, Gävle, Helsingborg, Lund, Malmö, Stockholm and Umeå, in collaboration with Viable Cities, the national mission platform in Sweden
- Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza, in cooperation with citiES2030, the national mission platform in Spain.
- M100, Mirror Mission Cities Hub in Romania
- Aachen, Dortmund, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Munich, Muenster, Dresden and Mannheim through stronGERcities, the German network of mission cities
- Lisbon, Guimarães and Porto through the Cities for Climate Network, the national mission platform in Portugal
- Athens, Ioánnina, Kalamata, Kozani, Thessaloniki and Trikala through Climanet, the network of Greek mission cities
- Leuven, Belgium
- Gabrovo and Sofia, Bulgaria
- Limassol, Cyprus
- Bordeaux Metropol, Dijon Metropol, Grenoble-Alpes Metropol, Marseille, Nantes Metropol and Paris, France
- Miskolc, Hungary
- Bergamo, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Padua, Parma, Prato, Rome and Turin, Italy
- Liepaja, Latvia
- Vilnius, Lithuania
- Kraków, Łódź, Rzeszów and Wroclaw, Poland
