This Framework Partnership Agreement aims at contributing to the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, hereafter referred to as the Cities Mission, and its objective of achieving 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. This partnership will build on the precursor action funded through the Horizon 2020 Green Deal call topic LC-GD-1-2-2020: Towards climate-neutral and socially innovative cities[1]. The Framework Partnership Agreement will establish the necessary framework and collaboration for implementing and scaling up the one-stop-shop platform dedicated to the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, hereafter referred to as the Mission Platform. The Mission Platform will cater for the needs of all the cities that commit to the objectives of the Cities Mission and start the transition towards climate neutrality in a systemic and smart way, as they engage in the co-creation and subsequent implementation of a Climate City Contract, hereafter referred to as CCC. The Mission Platform will assist those cities that will be identified and selected as a result of the open Call for Expression of Interest which will be launched and managed by the European Commission during the last quarter of 2021[2]. Cities that are not yet able to commit to the Mission’s timeline but are willing to commit to accelerate their transition towards climate neutrality within the timeframe 2030 to 2035 following the Cities Mission basic principles, will also receive basic support from the Mission Platform.
The Framework Partnership Agreement is expected to create the framework conditions and engage the needed competencies to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Building on the concept developed through the Horizon 2020 Green Deal call topic LC-GD-1-2-2020: Towards climate-neutral and socially innovative cities and on the setup of a one-stop-shop platform as a first building block for the Mission Platform, to provide advisory services to cities committing to the transition towards climate neutrality, the Commission calls for a Framework Partnership Agreement to establish the necessary framework and collaboration for scaling up and implementing the concept and activities of a Mission Platform and to fully integrate this platform into the Cities Mission. Partners should possess good knowledge and expertise in European urban programmes and initiatives, urban planning, technological innovation for climate neutrality, social innovation and stakeholder engagement, knowledge valorisation and transfer, and funding and financing programmes such as Horizon Europe, EU structural funds, EIB, EBRD etc. Partners should build on the experience developed by European and international umbrella organisations and networks such as the EIT-KICs, C40, Eurocities, CIVITAS, POLIS, ENoLL, Covenant of Mayors Europe/ Global Covenant of Mayors, European Digital Innovation Hubs, ICLEI etc.
The partners will be responsible for defining and enabling the framework conditions that will allow for the development of a fully-fledged Mission Platform that will be focused on delivering the Mission objective of achieving 100 climate neutral cities by 2030 and ensuring that these cities will act as innovation hubs for other European cities to follow, thus accelerating the transition to climate neutrality at city level. The Mission Platform will provide tailor-made services and targeted support for the cities participating in the Mission. It will also offer web-based assistance to European cities that are not yet ready to commit to climate neutrality by 2030, but are ready to commit to accelerate their transition in line with the Cities Mission principles.
Partners should develop a draft action plan to broadly address the main building blocks on which the FPA will operate, in particular: 1) Development, up-scaling of the concept of a Mission Platform and plan for the implementation of its associated services; 2) Co-creation of Climate City Contracts for the cities participating in the Mission; 3) Assistance and preparation of tailor-made investment plans, project preparation and finance for the cities participating in the Mission; 4) Launch and management of calls for large scale EU R&I demonstrators accelerating city climate-neutrality solutions.
The partnership will fulfil the following objectives:
To ensure a stable framework for the development of the Mission Platform, to avoid disruptions in its services and to deliver sustained support to the time-bound objective of the Cities Mission to achieve 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030, only one Framework Partnership Agreement will be established. The cooperation between the European Commission and selected partners will have a duration of five years. It will cover the period 2022-2027, until the conclusion of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme.
Cross-cutting Priorities:Digital Agenda
Artificial Intelligence
[1]Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020, Part 20. Cross-cutting activities, Call - Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: Research and innovation in support of the European Green Deal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/lc-gd-1-2-2020.The Horizon 2020 project NetZeroCities - Accelerating cities' transition to net zero emissions by 2030, Grant Agreement n. 101036519 was selected under the Green Deal call topic LC-GD-1-2-2020 Towards Climate-Neutral and Socially Innovative Cities and started its activities on 1 October 2021.
[2]Soon to be published on the Climate-neutral and smart cities Mission webpage : https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/missions-horizon-europe/climate-neutral-and-smart-cities_en
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