Our role in NetZeroCities has been extended! This means we will continue our work to connect Norwegian cities, the business community, and research institutions with Europe’s initiative for climate-neutral cities.
NetZeroCities is the EU’s support platform for European cities working toward becoming climate-neutral by 2030. This is part of the EU’s goal of having 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. A total of 112 European cities have been selected to lead the way in this effort, with Stavanger, Oslo, and Trondheim among the Norwegian cities participating in the project. The platform offers technical assistance, funding opportunities, knowledge sharing, and practical tools. NetZeroCities thus helps cities move from climate goals to the implementation of concrete measures.
“It really boils down to three things: expertise, collaboration, and funding. We aim to help connect Norwegian municipalities with relevant expertise, strong partners, and funding opportunities,” says Bjarne Uldal from Nordic Edge.
So far, our work has focused on helping Norwegian cities gain access to expertise, facilitating networking opportunities, connecting them with funding opportunities, and opening doors for members by linking their solutions with cities that need them. For Nordic Edge members, this can also open doors to new collaborations, pilot projects, and international connections.
The extension is valid for 14 additional months and gives Nordic Edge the opportunity to work more systematically and with a long-term perspective with Norwegian municipalities and their climate challenges. For Nordic Edge, this provides continuity in its efforts to collaborate with municipalities to address the challenges they face. To date, Nordic Edge has contributed by:
“We have room for more cities in our network and want to work with all Norwegian municipalities that have high climate ambitions. Our work is not limited to the three cities participating in Mission Cities,” says Bjarne Uldal.
Going forward, Nordic Edge aims to connect even more Norwegian municipalities to the European network.
"We’ve gotten to know the cities and the challenges they face better. This allows us to work in a more targeted way to bring Norwegian cities closer to Europe, because many of the cities face the same challenges," says Eline Vigre.
Vigre leads Nordic Edge’s EU initiative designed to help identify funding opportunities, partners, and expertise for innovation projects through the EU. For the work in NetZeroCities, the EU initiative provides a solid foundation for linking the needs of Norwegian municipalities to relevant partnerships and funding opportunities in Europe.
On October 19, we invite you to an experience conference in Trondheim, focusing on Norway’s efforts within the EU’s “Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities” initiative. The program is being developed as a collaboration between the Norwegian mission cities of Oslo, Stavanger, and Trondheim, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, DOGA, the Research Council of Norway, Nordic Edge, NetZeroCities and NTNU. Here, we bring together cities, government agencies, research and business communities, and financial institutions to share experiences, resolve common challenges, and strengthen collaboration across cities and sectors related to the mission.