EUROPEAN GROUPING FOR TERRITORIAL COOPERATION

NETWORK FOR CITIES CLIMATE NEUTRALITY – GREECE & CYPRUS

The EGTC Clima Net Gr-Cy was established by Greek and Cypriot first-level Local Authorities that have developed and approved a Climate Neutrality Covenant.

Its main objective is the development of unified standards, transferable models, and applied policies to address both the causes and impacts of the climate crisis, strengthening urban resilience against risks arising from extreme natural phenomena (heatwaves, drought, forest, peri-urban and urban fires, lightning and dry storms, intense rainfall and flooding, windstorms, tornadoes, and changes in marine environmental parameters). These risks affect the urban fabric as well as the extra-urban natural or anthropogenic environment (where the primary drivers of extreme climate phenomena are generated, namely the marine environment, rivers and torrents, agricultural countryside, forests, peri-urban industrial zones, etc.), which in turn disproportionately impact cities and their energy performance through phenomena such as prolonged heatwaves and the urban heat island effect. These lead to increased energy demand and energy-intensive operations that further fuel the vicious cycle of CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions and climate disruption.

In addition, common policy methodologies are promoted for the thematic pillars of Climate Neutrality, such as: Energy & Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainable Urban Mobility and City Logistics, Waste Management and Reduction, Urban Planning Regulations and Land Use, Urban and Natural Environment, Smart City, and Multilevel Governance.

In particular, through multilevel governance—which constitutes a core component of Climate Covenants—given that each city and each Climate Covenant is implemented through broad partnerships and participatory processes, the activation of all levels of the Public, Private, Academic, and Social sectors is pursued, in order to promote new types of policies and green investments.

Within this framework, the purpose of the Organization is to promote and support the implementation by its Members of the EU’s climate objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, in order to address climate change and the climate crisis, based on Local Climate Neutrality Covenants, through partnership-based cooperation between Local Authorities and public, private, and social partners of their cities.

The above purpose is realized through the cooperation of the contracting parties to accelerate the transition of cities towards Climate Neutrality, as well as digital transformation by 2030, in accordance with the provisions of the European Mission for “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.” The Mission aims to achieve the goal of 100 climate-neutral and smart European cities by 2030, which will act as hubs of experimentation and innovation, enabling all European cities to follow their example by 2050.

Specifically, the purpose of the Organization is to provide scientific and technical support to municipalities—primarily and as a priority to the Member Municipalities of the Organization, and secondarily to municipalities in Greece and Cyprus that express interest—in order to facilitate the transfer of know-how in policy implementation for achieving Climate Neutrality.

This objective is achieved through the creation of an auxiliary, supportive, and complementary mechanism to the municipal services of the Member Municipalities, serving as a Rapid Project Study and Permitting Maturity Mechanism for projects and integrated plans in the thematic fields of Climate Neutrality (including, indicatively and not exhaustively):

• Energy efficiency interventions in public spaces and buildings
  • Use of Renewable Energy Sources
  • Interventions in Sustainable Urban Mobility
  • Waste management actions
  • Urban redesign and planning regulations
  • Extensive urban and peri-urban greening
  • Smart City technologies
  • Resilience and protection actions against extreme climate crisis phenomena