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Climate Action
Local and regional climate action

Spearheading a climate-neutral future with Europe’s towns, cities and regions.

Europe’s towns, cities and regions are on the front line when it comes to climate change. They are highly vulnerable to different climate impacts such as heatwaves, flooding and droughts. At the same time, urban areas are responsible for 70% of global CO2 emissions, with transport and buildings being among the largest contributors.

Becoming climate-neutral and resilient is a complex and systemic transition requiring cooperation of all policy levels. Local and regional authorities are crucial in this since they are responsible for a large part of the investments on the ground.

The good news is, Europe’s towns, cities and regions are taking action to become climate-neutral and climate-resilient, through intelligent urban design, management, and green infrastructure.

EU support for towns, cities and regions

The EU leads several initiatives to support towns, cities and regions in their efforts to lower their emissions and adapt to climate change. You can find the main ones below. See our financing opportunities page for a more comprehensive overview.

  • The EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy brings together thousands of municipalities that want to secure a better future for their citizens. By joining the initiative, they voluntarily commit to reduce emissions, build climate resilience and address energy poverty in their territory.
  • The EU Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities involves 100 EU cities, together with their citizens and local businesses, as well as regional and national authorities and investors to deliver climate-neutrality by 2030. These cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050.
  • The EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change empowers European regional and local authorities to build climate resilience. It aims to guide at least 150 communities through understanding climate risks, developing action plans, and implementing innovative solutions by 2030.
  • The EU Green City Accord is a movement of European mayors committed to making cities cleaner and healthier. By signing the Accord, cities commit to addressing five areas of environmental management: air, water, nature and biodiversity, circular economy and waste, and noise.
  • LIFE EU City Facility supports local authorities and their groupings with tailor-made financial support and related services to develop investment concepts related to the implementation of their climate and energy action plans.
  • The Smart Cities Marketplace helps cities explore solutions, shape sustainable urban projects, and successfully close a deal for financing them.
  • The European Urban Initiative provides EU cities with funding, technical assistance and learning opportunities to promote sustainable urban development.

Global cooperation

Building on local and regional initiatives in Europe, the EU extends its leadership to contribute to global action.

  • The Global Covenant of Mayors is a global alliance involving cities, local governments and partners from all sectors of society. Being part of the alliance means contributing to building an inclusive, just, low-emission and climate-resilient future, helping to meet and exceed the Paris Agreement objectives of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. All cities under the EU Covenant are automatically part of the Global Covenant too.
  • The International Urban and Regional Cooperation programme (IURC) promotes decentralised international urban and regional cooperation in sustainable urban development, in key partner countries and regions.
  • The Urban Transitions Mission (UTM), a global ‘sister’ of the EU Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, mobilises decision makers across all levels of government to prioritise climate-neutral and net-zero pathways enabled by clean energy and systemic innovation across all sectors and in urban governance. The UTM is one of the seven missions of Mission Innovation.
  • PLATFORMA: a hub of expertise on European local and regional governments’ international action, which aims at boosting European local and regional governments’ contribution to EU development cooperation policies and international frameworks.