European City Calculator: Prospective modelling tool supporting public authorities in reaching climate neutrality

Project Information

EUCITYCALC

Grant agreement ID: 101022965

DOI

10.3030/101022965

Project closed

EC signature date 6 May 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2024

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 998 571,25

EU contribution

€ 1 998 571,25

Coordinated by

ENERGY CITIES/ENERGIE-CITES ASSOCIATION
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EUCITYCALC (European City Calculator: Prospective modelling tool supporting public authorities in reaching climate neutrality)

Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In order for Europe’s transition towards climate neutrality to succeed, cities need to be in the driving seat. European cities are at the forefront in addressing climate change, with many having committed to develop and implement SEAPs/SECAPs through initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors. Many cities have also committed to become climate-neutral by 2050 or even earlier. Yet, despite ambitious short- and long-term commitments, only few cities have managed to translate plans into concrete implementation strategies with tangible decarbonisation pathways. In transitioning towards climate neutrality, cities have to overcome complex challenges that cannot be tackled with a business-as-usual approach. For this, cities need to be equipped with tools, information and skills that empower them to become local transition leaders.
This is where EUCityCalc comes into play. Its objective was to support public authorities in planning towards climate neutrality through the prospective modelling approach of the European City Calculator webtool. The European City Calculator is an open-source, prospective modelling tool providing cities with a sectoral outlook on the type and ambition of measures they can take to achieve a transition towards climate neutrality. As a flexible model adapted to territorial specificities and reflecting the city governance, it supports cities in designing tailored transition pathways and policy scenarios.
With the webtool at its core, EUCityCalc supported 10 pilot cities - Riga, Dijon Métropole, Mantova, Zdar, Palmela, Sesimbra, Setubal, Koprivnica, Varazdin, Virovitica - in developing and implementing scientifically robust, detailed and integrated pathways and scenarios towards climate neutrality. Through peer-to-peer learning, a multifaceted capacity-building and training programme and the engagement of local stakeholders in expert working groups, EUCityCalc empowered cities in devising a clear and concrete roadmap towards climate neutrality. Now, the webtool is available for all cities to build their scenarios towards carbon neutrality: https://eucitycalc.climact.com/fr

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The webtool was available to use for pilot cities since March 2023. Through a co-creation process with multiple departments within the cities as well as other local organisations, they built their roadmaps towards carbon neutrality. This led to signing a Memorandum of Understanding for 8 pilot cities, that sealed the commitment of their elected representatives as well as other actors such as academics or businesses, to implement this roadmap; The remaining 2 pilot cities (Riga and Dijon Métropole), Mission Cities, integrated the results of the co-creation process in the design of their Climate City Contract. This process will also feed pilot cities' SECAPs' and other planning documents' update. You can read their testimonies in "From thought to action - EU City Calculator: a webtool made by cities for cities": https://europeancitycalculator.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/EUCityCalc_Narrative.pdf.

In parallel, pilot cities organised or joined discussions with representatives of their respective national governments, to integrate the outputs of their co-creation process into the update of their respective National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP).

To empower new cities in using the tool to build their own roadmap towards carbon neutrality, a learning programme was developed: 2 online learning modules that each represents 2 hours of time investment, for learners to be able to use autonomously the webtool, to integrate it into the planning needs of the cities and to engage local organisation into this planning process. On top of these e-learning modules, a one-day workshop was organised in the 6 countries of the pilot cities, as well as in Brussels. The learning programme will be re-opened again after the end of the project. Keep an eye on the learning center: https://localtransitionslearning.eu/mod/page/view.php?id=213.

The webtool and the learning programme will be improved in the near future within the LIFE-funded SPARKLE project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

EUCityCalc have both direct and triggered impacts. Its direct impacts, which concern in particular capacity-building and shaping policies, happened during the project as well as shortly thereafter, keeping in mind that even when a policy is in place, it takes time for it to show its effect. The direct impacts are the number of public authorities and public officials with improved capacities and skills in delivering the energy transition, the number of policies and strategies created or influenced by the project, and the number of local stakeholders engaged in co-creating transition pathways and policy scenarios towards climate neutrality. Those impacts are then expected to trigger investments in sustainable energy (compared to a 2020 baseline), net GHG emission reduction (compared to a 1990 baseline), reduction of final energy demand (also compared to a 1990 baseline) and alleviation of air pollution (compared to a 2005 baseline). The triggered impacts are expected to occur after the project has ended, but this will also depend on how much and how fast the multi-level governance framework for cities’ climate-neutral transition (the Governance Regulation in particular) will change in a favorable manner.

A total of 260 officials from 146 EU local authorities were trained in using the webtool, with the learning programme. 430 local stakeholders from 168 entities located on the pilot cities' territories were involved in the co-creation process.49 policies and strategies were created or influenced by the project.

Group picture of the consortium at Brussels meeting, 28 Feb 2023

Group picture of the consortium at Valencia final conference, 25 June 2024