How can cities strike high-impact Local Green Deals (LGDs) with industry and the private sector to advance their sustainability ambitions? This is a difficult question. Policymakers, local political and business leaders came together on 6 December at a COP28 EU hosted event to discuss the implementation of LGDs, and the role industry plays.
Net-Zero is at the heart of LGDs, and as Dana Eleftheriadou, Head of Cities and Proximity Team for the European Commission remarked “The future we want to see lies in the hands of us all”. This quote is an apt summarisation of the robustly productive discussion.
Local Green Deals seek to accelerate a net-zero industry transition across sectors, for instance, through sustainable buildings, clean mobility, decentralised renewable energy systems, while promoting social inclusiveness. The EU Intelligent Cities Challenge’s (ICC) main objective is to support cities in their work towards a Green and Digital Transition of their local economies, through Local Green Deals.
Key topics discussed today were the policy context, multi-level cross-departmental governance, the role of local politics, the imperative of coalitions with the private sector and industry, and how to engage in impact LGDs.
Policy Context
Valentina Superti, Director for Tourism, Proximity and Digitisation of Industry at the European Commission, explained that the European Green Deal harbours ambitious goals for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The EU proposed the European Green Industrial Plan encompassing the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act. The aim is to scale up clean tech manufacturing in Europe, improve energy efficiency in industry, strengthen the security of critical raw material supply, and foster circularity and sustainability. Beyond hard investments, investing in reskilling the local workforce is crucial to meet the demands of the ongoing transition.
However, the true essence of the European Green Deal and regulatory acts lies in the practical implementation at the grassroots. The European Green Deal cannot be delivered without CITIES and local businesses involved. This is where the ICC becomes critical, through expert support, sharing of expertise and best practices, to instigate successful twin transitions.
Role of Local Politics
A pertinent element of ICC is the inclusion of industry and businesses in the LGDs that it promotes, a recurring theme of today’s session. Inextricably linked with this is the multi-level political collaboration, that Mayor of Braga (Portugal), Ricardo Rio so aptly touched on, conferring on how local political leadership can influence policy at all levels.
Collaboration with Industry and Private Sector
Moreover, collaboration on LGDs and Twin Transition initiatives are redundant without involvement from industry, the private sector, and citizens of the cities involved. The industry representatives, Jens Broberg from Danish heating company S.P Jensen and David Nordberg of S.K Skanska, a Swedish construction company, provided great examples of sustainable practices. They highlighted the merit of working together with the municipalities building up common vision and using innovative public procurement to engineer their future. They offered a long list of both short and long term benefits their companies derive from LGDs: financial benefits, networking with other like-minded companies, sharing resources and tech solutions, long-term stability for the company, and standing out positively in the market and in the perception of citizens, as Jens Broberg voiced.
The ICC was greatly praised for its continuing work, and Lasse Frimand Jensen, Mayor of Aalborg (Denmark), Evelina Fahlesson, Councilor of Skellefteå (Sweden), and Marja Ruigrok, Alderman of Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (The Netherlands), highlighted how the ICC continues to benefit their cities as they are pressing ahead with their green and digital transformations.
Today’s session speaks to the importance of ICC and cities’ role in achieving the EU’s ambitious net neutrality and sustainability goals. Without the collaboration of local citizens, administrations and businesses, the EU won’t reach their ambitious, but necessary goals.