citiES 2030 in Perspective: Achievements, Lessons, and Reflections

In early March, the Collaborative Platform for the Climate Neutrality of Spanish Cities (citiES 2030) brought together its entire ecosystem to celebrate the achievements of the last 18 months and discuss upcoming challenges. The meeting was attended by more than 170 people, representatives of social organizations, public administrations, city councils, universities, companies, among others.

cities 2030 is a multi-stakeholder collaboration platform whose objective is to implement the European Mission for Climate Neutral and Smart Cities. It is promoted by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) through the Biodiversity Foundation and the Spanish Office for Climate Change, within the framework of PIMA funds. Developed by EIT Climate-KIC and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (itdUPM).

Throughout the day, topics such as the social dimension of the European Cities Mission, the Climate Agreements as vectors of transformation, massive energy rehabilitation in Spanish cities and the construction of national platforms in Europe were addressed. The reflections were given in very diverse formats such as monologues, inspiring dialogues and multi-stakeholder conversations. All of them allowed to give voice to multiple members of the platform, who provided complementary perspectives.

The meeting, moderated by Alicia Torrego, Director of the Conama Foundation, began with an intervention by the General Director of the Spanish Climate Change Office, Valvanera Ulargui, who mentioned the progress made, highlighting the pillars that have been laid to continue building the next steps of the platform. Then, the citiES 2030 team shared the results, impacts and lessons learned from this last year.

Putting citizens at the center of urban transformation, taking into account their diversity and using a more accessible language were some of the main reflections on the social dimension of the European Cities Mission. This roundtable presented the citizen involvement strategy developed by citiES 2030 in collaboration with Tangente. The aim is to make participation an enriching experience that goes beyond traditional spaces and methodologies.

Regarding the Climate Agreements as vectors of transformation, mention was made of their potential to plan actions and promote innovations in governance, which makes possible, among other things, a more comprehensive approach to European commitments. As challenges, the need to explore how social aspects can be more deeply integrated was raised, and innovation in financial aspects was proposed as a next step.

Massive energy rehabilitation is the first great shared challenge of the Mission cities, so one of the debates focused on this topic. What is relevant is not only the massive energy rehabilitation program developed by the platform in collaboration with GBCe, but it has been designed in a collaborative way taking into account the reality of the cities. This program seeks to address barriers such as poor administrative coordination, communication gaps between different sectors, financial fragmentation, the absence of energy offices and spaces to support citizens, among others. This area has as a pilot the URBANEW project, funded by NetZeroCities, which will show the potential of collaboration between cities in the energy rehabilitation sector.

At the end of the day, representatives from various countries (Sweden, the Netherlands, Romania and Portugal) discussed the implementation of national platforms in Europe. All the participants agreed on the important role of these collaborative spaces, both to amplify the implementation of the Mission and to share experiences and lessons learned among them. Special emphasis was placed on the substantial value of the teams leading the platforms and the need to finance these tasks. In addition, focus was placed on the need to identify business models that are suitable for this type of structures and help to promote their transition. It is expected that collaboration between national platforms will be strengthened in the near future.

At the end of the event, Olga Kordas, Director of Viable Cities, was recognized for her work in the Swedish platform and for being a constant source of knowledge and inspiration for citiES 2030.

Este encuentro dio cuenta del valor de la colaboración no solo entre las ciudades sino entre países, niveles administrativos y organizaciones de todos los ámbitos. El equipo de la plataforma española seguirá trabajando para facilitar las acciones que permitan avanzar conjuntamente hacia la neutralidad climática y en este camino, la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (itdUPM) seguirá apoyando a citiES 2030 como a las ciudades para lograr esta Misión.