The European Commission, through the vice president and head of the European Green Deal, Maros Sefcovic, announced that five cities in Spain (Madrid, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza) will receive the ‘Mission Label’, after the evaluation in their climate agreements.
It was announced this Thursday in Brussels on the occasion of the celebration of the European Week of Regions and Cities, in recognition of the process promoted by these cities and as a tool to help facilitate access to the national, regional and European Union , as well as private investment within the framework of the European Cities Mission.
The European Commission launched five missions in 2021, within the Horizon Europe Program, with the aim of accelerating the implementation of the European Green Deal, including the climate neutral and smart cities mission, which constitutes one of the -first instrument to put innovation in front. ecological and digital transition services in cities.
The mission includes Administrations, companies, investors and citizens with the aim of promoting 100 EU cities to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, also becoming an innovation and experimentation hub to all European cities will achieve this same goal by the middle of the century.
On November 25, 2021, the Commission launched the call for ‘expressions of interest’ so that cities can apply to be part of the said mission, sending information about their current situation, actions in progress and plans to future to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.
The call is closed at the end of January 2022, with a total of 377 candidate cities from all EU Member States, including 25 Spanish, and eight associated countries (including the United Kingdom and Norway) .
The selection process ended in April 2022, with the announcement of 100 EU cities invited to be part of the European Mission, plus another 12 from the Associated States. Among them, seven Spanish cities were selected (Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza), which concentrate 16% of the country’s population.
