Climate neutral cities - faster together!

Call #4
Closed August 30, 2019
Funding announced approximately 20 million SEK.

The call for proposals Climate Neutral Cities - Faster Together! welcomes project proposals that focus on cities that want to accelerate the transition to become viable and climate-neutral already by 2030. Project consortia will focus on innovative solutions and new knowledge that can help accelerate the transition to climate-neutral cities in a way that contributes to a good life for all within the boundaries of the planet.

Who is the call aimed at?

The call is aimed at business, research institutes, academia, public actors and civil society organizations. At least three parties must be behind each application. For example, it could be a cross-border collaboration between a non-profit organization, a city and a commercial company. The strategic innovation program Viable Cities is part of Vinnova's, the Swedish Energy Agency's and Formas' joint initiative on strategic innovation areas.

The call welcomes proposals for projects that are based on a holistic perspective on the city and that use digitalization and citizen engagement to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral cities. Both digitalization and citizen engagement should be used in the project as enablers and drivers to accelerate the transition.

Focus & thematic areas

The work needs to be based on a holistic approach to sustainable urban development, preferably linked to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The call is intended for project applications at the intersection of the Viable Cities focus areas and thematic areas. The projects must relate to at least two of the following four focus areas:

  • Lifestyle and consumption
  • Planning and the built environment
  • Mobility and accessibility
  • Integrated infrastructure

and at least one of the five thematic areas:

  • Test beds and Living Labs
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Financing and business models
  • Governance
  • Intelligence, cybersecurity and ethics

Important dates


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More about the call

Read the call text

More detailed information on the thematic areas can be found in the full call text.

How to apply

The call is carried out jointly by Vinnova, the Swedish Energy Agency and Formas. It is the Swedish Energy Agency that receives the applications and decides, preliminarily by November 2019, which projects are granted. Click on the button below to go to the Swedish Energy Agency's website where you will find the complete call text and formal requirements and other details.

Please note! It is very important to submit a correct and complete application, including the requested public annex.

Support for applicants

An information session on the call was held on 21 May in the form of a webinar.

For consortia preparing an application, the Agency offered consultation sessions and matchmaking as far as possible.

Frequently asked questions

Here are the most frequently asked questions about the call.

Yes, international partners can participate in an application. However, in order for the partner to have its own budget in the project, the partner must also be active in Sweden and have a Swedish organization number. Otherwise, the partner can only participate and contribute with co-financing.

As the institutions have the same organization number, they are counted as the same actor.

No, not all content criteria need to be addressed.

Yes, it can. An assessment is made on a case-by-case basis.

There will be a committee of external assessors proposed by the Programme Board and approved by the Swedish Energy Agency that will make an overall assessment of all applications submitted.

The assessment team is appointed by the Swedish Energy Agency after consultation with the Viable Cities program management.

It depends on what the project partners have agreed in the project agreement. Usually, results generated by several parties are jointly owned by them with a share corresponding to the intellectual contribution of each party to the generation of the result.

The focus of the program and the call is mitigation.

Contact us

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us:

Patrik Rydén, patrik.ryden@viablecities.se

Emina Pasic, Energy Agency contact person, emina.pasic@energimyndigheten.se