Under the #EGD4cities an Assessment Methodology for creating European Green Deal local policies will be developed in order to enhance local authorities' staff role on assistant provision of climate change. Also, "Transformative Mindset Courses on EGD4cities" are already created by the partnership to increase and deepen the knowledge and competences of local authorities’ staff working in the decision-making positions how to resilience climate change in local level. In the next posts we will describe the modules of thew courses, which are related with the topics of the European Green Deal. Stay Tuned...

EGD4CITIES' monthly online coordination meeting is taking place right now! All the partners of the project are working hard, trying to put the European Green Deal into practice at the local level! Stay tuned! More updates are coming soon!

Aspiring startuppers, serial innovators, seasoned entrepreneurs can apply by 15th November 2021 (23:59 CET). With less than a month left for the submission deadline of EUSPA’s latest innovation competition it’s time for a short recap the ‘’Map My World’’ and ‘’Move Me Smart’’ challenges. According to UN projections, urbanization combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050. These trends are pushing the boundaries for resource exploitation and are creating a huge demand for civil infrastructures such as buildings, subways, and train lines, bridges, dams, highways, and airports. Both the construction sector and urban planning are directly benefitting from the EU Space Programme namely from the additional accuracy of Galileo and EGNOS which allows surveyors to accurately pinpoint structures and reference points. Copernicus offers high-resolution images to assess the state of civil infrastructure including dams, or pipelines and track water loss. EUSPA market report, finds that by 2025, 83% of GNSS geomatics equipment will be used for cadastral surveying and construction applications. As of today, more than 80% of newly manufactured geomatics equipment and instruments use Galileo. The "Μap Μy World’" challenge of #myEUspace aims at promoting the use of EU satellite programmes Galileo, EGNOS, and/or Copernicus among students, young professionals, entrepreneurs, and small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs), that look to create cutting-edge geomatics applications and solutions. Such applications could integrate the use of additional technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, as well as supplementary remote sensing data sources like drones. Solutions animated through mobile phone applications or other easy-to-use platforms are also welcome. The challenge is supported by the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE). Watch this: Want to know more about EGNSS for geomatics? "Move Me Smart’" challenge is opening a door for new solutions for smart mobility and smart cities Smart mobility is currently under the spotlight as the Union is investing more in its EU Space Programme for the definition of its green and digital policies. The "Move me smart’’ challenge taps on this asking innovators to conceive smart mobility solutions across all transportation modes to improve efficiency and sustainability and increase safety. The proposed solutions should be focusing on: reduction of emissions more sustainable transport means and new concepts of mobility more affordable, accessible, healthier, and cleaner alternatives The COVID-19 lockdown measures led to the reduction of emissions in cities, which raised their interest in identifying more suitable mobility schemes when activity returns to normal. In this context, some cities have decided to take the opportunity to build a better, more sustainable, and efficient transport system to support the recovery phase, and look for solutions in space. For example, more efficient cycling routes and their integration in the cities or more applications on shared mobility can reduce the use of personal vehicles in the city and improve the air condition for inhabitants. New mobility schemes, such as unmanned vehicles are being developed to meet the emerging needs of transport of people and goods. In fact, parcel delivery promises to reduce emissions in cities and demands EGNSS differentiators to fly safely beyond the line of sight to complete its mission. Moreover, drones and unmanned vehicles now navigate more accurately thanks to Galileo's robust performance. Drone-based solutions like Thunderfly, one of the myGalileoDrone winners, is able to perform atmosphere analyses, leveraging services and data from Galileo and Copernicus. On the other hand, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) rely on positioning data, which has now become much more precise thanks to Galileo services. With the help of Galileo and EGNOS, the implementation of ITS is now becoming a reality for transport and mobility companies. The city of Madrid together with Prague was among the first to integrate Galileo’s enhanced positioning services into its Transport System to improve public transport services in the Spanish and Czech capital. On the other hand, sustainable and resilient infrastructures are key to supporting smart mobility systems. Copernicus, the EU’s Earth Observation Programme offers a broad range of products and services based on satellite optical data. Lidar images, can, for instance, help urban planning authorities to identify changes in the terrain such as land subsidence or vegetation that could encroach rail tracks. The combination of imagery from Copernicus with the very accurate positioning provided by Galileo allows for the monitoring and planning of critical infrastructures tunnels, motorways, bridges or contributes to more sufficient management of parking lots. The opportunities offered by the EU Space Programme are unlimited! The clock is ticking, so roll up your sleeves! Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).

This blog was written by Adel Strydom, Senior Communications Officer at ICLEI Africa, and Kale Roberts, Senior Program Officer at ICLEI USA. Cities, regions and other local governments – where climate action so often ultimately plays out – are driving finance conversations at the summit. Yesterday’s #Time4MultileveAction dialogue brought the right people in the room to discuss clearing the way for finance to flow to cities – the place where transformative change ultimately happens. Throughout Finance Day, and across many of the pavilions at the summit, we hear the same stats repeated. We need between $11 and $20 each year if we want to achieve the targets in the Paris Agreement. The governments closest to the citizens need to deliver and implement the actions that will do so, therefore they require a significant sum. Recent predictions state that each city with a population of more than 100,000 requires as much as $1 billion to make the needed change. Yet, even though some progress has been made to clear the way for finance to flow from international funds all the way to the local governments, the same obstacles persist: subnational government mandates limit their ability access finance; they don’t have bankable projects; city officials don’t have the capacity to develop the robust project proposals needed to quality for funding; mitigation continues to receive the bulk of investments; and climate investment is competing with the provision of basic services and COVID-19 responses. Yesterday afternoon’s Urban LEDS #Time4MultilevelAction Dialogue entitled Finance Flowing to Accelerate Climate Action: Innovation and Partnership took a particularly practical approach and the opening remarks from keynote speaker Bernhard Barth, Urban Environment Programme Coordinator, UN-Habitat set the tone. “Every investment needs to be a climate investment. There should be no project that is not scrutinized for how they contribute to climate impacts and resilience-building. We need to make sure every dollar, pound, yen, and euro ticks every box in terms of climate, justice, and COVID-recovery.” Cities speak up: Real examples of local-level climate finance experience With the right knowledge and skill, local governments could consider a number of different finance mechanisms to reduce emissions and build climate resilience. For Arno Bonte, Vice Mayor of Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands, it is only possible with the engagement of the private sector. “It’s crucial in the energy transition to have close cooperation with the private sector. The only role we can play from the local government is to help this huge funding come true.” Rotterdam is actively working with their regional and national governments to align strategies and claim the role to link the companies on the ground wanting to be part of the energy transition. In South Africa, the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality is taking a different approach. In these developing communities, climate action is not top of mind. Instead, the projects that get funding preference are those that provide basic services. Angel Masia, Director, Environmental and Solid Waste Management explains how, through the EU-funded Urban LEDS project, the municipality has adopted an open-minded approach to partnering and finding opportunities. “As municipalities, we can’t just sit back and say there are no funds. Instead we find ways to partner with communities and the private sector to not only address service delivery, but also climate change.” The municipality is open to many funding sources, including grants and private funds to either completely fund the project or find a blended finance solution. They actively conduct feasibility studies to strengthen business proposals that could lead to public-private partnerships. Working with communities, they’ve found it’s possible to start implementing projects without a capital budget. And to get the coveted council buy-in needed to drive projects, they are including job opportunities in their proposals. The Director also mentioned the importance of preparing bankable projects to access climate finance. In this sense, they got support through the ICLEI- led Transformative Actions Program (TAP), a project preparation facility that supports local and regional governments to transform their low emission and resilient infrastructure concepts into mature and finance ready projects. The initiative selects projects globally and provides services to mitigate the gaps faced when accessing climate finance. The TAP pipeline has 67 projects, out of which Envigado from Colombia was also present at the session.The Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Nicolas Arenas, highlighted some of the major obstacles that local governments face in obtaining funds for mitigation and adaptation projects. One of the main challenges, according to Arenas, is to align the interests of both governments and funding providers. An additional challenge is the lack of knowledge at the local level about the climate finance instruments, which leads local and regional governments to trust in their own resources which are insufficient. What solutions do the finance experts offer? The panel brought financial experts into the room to shine light on possible solutions they offer. Augustin Maria, Senior Urban Specialist, World Bank, is positive that cities are already making great strides in the right direction. “It’s great to see that cities are ready to act. More than 6000 have already prepared climate action plans. But this represents only 20% of the urban population. We need more robust action plans and for these plans to transmit into action.” Both the Gap Fund and the International Municipal Investment Fund (IMIF) support local governments in taking their completed climate action plans, which include identified actions that will limit emissions and build resilience forward. Jean-François Habeau, Executive Director at The Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV), believes local governments alone should not be required to go beyond this, therefore they assist them in identifying projects and preparing the proposals to apply for the needed funding. “In the Global South, cities are trying to create bankable projects — but it’s not their role! Their role is to create guiding visions and strategies. That’s why we have the Gap Fund, other project preparation facilities and IMIF – to provide technical assistance.” Localizing climate finance in line with the Paris Agreement While these mechanisms are certainly assisting cities in accessing finance, and progress has been made since COP21 in Paris, success stories remain limited and local governments still struggle to meet all the requirements for climate funding. According to Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy at ICLEI, also acting as the focal point for the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities Constituency (LGMA), we need more concrete mention of urban finance in global agreements. The LGMA proposes that Article 6.8 in the Paris Agreement, which is still being finalized, should include non-market territorial development, especially six key words: “Sustainable, integrated, urban and territorial development”. David Jackson, Director, Local Development Finance at The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), agreed strongly and highlighted that we need two specific elements to achieve this. “First, some kind of guarantee facility that allows cities to access central money without impinging on the sovereign liability. Second, public money for climate needs to be recognized as better spent by cities, not ministries. It should not go to regulators, but to those who work on the implementation. Local government finance is climate finance. That has to be the motto.” Local governments alone cannot be responsible for climate action and its finance implications Similar to many sessions at COP26 and global continued research, these discussions highlighted again the role of local governments in meeting the Paris Agreement goals, yet the message yesterday was clear: While cities know their needs best and should take ownership of robust climate action planning, they are not solely responsible for taking the actions they identify all the way to implementation. Bella Tonkonogy, Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA) Secretariat stated this pointedly in her closing remarks. “Cities can’t do this alone. They don’t have the financial or human capacity and they don’t control all the financial solutions that can be used.” Multilevel action, not only across levels of government, but also between governments, civil society, the private sector and beyond, continues to be the key approach in truly transforming our cities, regions and nations.

The International City Partnerships: Acting for Green and Inclusive Recovery is a project of the European Union and managed by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission. The project will be implemented from October 2021 – March 2023 and originate in a pilot project of the European Parliament. The objective of this project is to contribute to the improvement of quality of life in participating cities, by promoting sustainable and integrated urban development, through the identification of innovative policies and programmes. There will be four cities selected from Canada, and four cities selected from South Africa. In addition to Singapore and Hong Kong, there will be a selection of two South Korean cities and two Taiwanese cities in Asia. From Europe there will be a total of fourteen cities selected from different Member States. What are the objectives of the ICP Programme? The project seeks to develop urban cooperation and foment city-to-city partnerships between EU and non-EU local authorities in Canada, South Africa, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The goal is to facilitate the sharing of information and transfer of good practices and lessons learned on sustainable and integrated urban practices and policies between participating cities, in order to contribute to a learning process based on concrete examples and best practices, as well as facilitate business cooperation and local economic development, including low-carbon development. International responses and experiences will be pooled for the benefit of participating cities on the challenges faced by cities worldwide on the themes of 1) circular economy, 2) air quality, 3) energy transition, and 4) integration of migration of migrants and refugees. How will the ICP Programme be implemented? The programme will prepare, run and evaluate working meetings and study visits in both EU and non-EU countries. A collaborative on-line platform will be established to facilitate the exchange of information and good practices. In addition to regional and local authorities and, on the basis of the European experience, the project focus will be concrete and operational and involve as much as possible stakeholders from both EU and non-EU countries such as firms, public and private agencies, Universities and research centers. The intervention areas will be decided by the involved cities with strong support of the project team, and in coordination with the EU commission (DG REGIO), the EU Delegations and offices in the respective countries and territories and national authorities of the non-EU countries where relevant. What does the network knowledge exchange timeline look like? If you are representing a city interested in participating in the project, please fill the online questionnaire and submit your candidature before 30 November.

With the mission for intelligent and climate-neutral cities under the program "Horizon Europe"! Starting today, the first invitations to submit project proposals to cities that want to join the mission are open. The goal is to develop European, national and local strategies, as well as priority actions for scientific research and innovation. This way we will help European cities reduce their environmental impact. The ambition is until 2030. to support 100 European cities in their systematic transformation to climate neutrality by becoming centers for experimentation and innovation. The deadline for applications is 31 January2022 To learn more about the mission and how you can apply with project proposals, visit: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/commission-invites-cities-express-their-interest-become-part-european-mission-100-climate-neutral-and-smart-cities-2030-2021-nov-25_en

After a period of unprecedented challenges brought up by the pandemic, EU Commission announced that CITIES FORUM will be organised in physical and hybrid format in 2023. They are currently looking for the city where the FORUM will take place. Cities interested in hosting and co-organising the CITIES FORUM together with DG REGIO can show their interest by submitting an application by 31 January 2022. More info here: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/newsroom/news/2021/11/29-11-2021-cities-forum-2023-call-for-hosting-cities

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. To overcome these challenges, the European Green Deal will transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring: no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 economic growth decoupled from resource use no person and no place left behind The European Green Deal is also our lifeline out of the COVID-19 pandemic. One third of the 1.8 trillion euro investments from the NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan, and the EU’s seven-year budget will finance the European Green Deal.