European cities go climate neutral by 2030

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate Change

Concept:

The EU is pushing for 100 cities including Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam to reach net-zero emissions by the end of the decade — far earlier than their national governments plan to get there.
As governments across the world have promised to stop polluting carbon emissions by 2050, scores of European cities have pledged to get there by 2030 — just seven years from now.
Berlin, which is not on the list, held a referendum in March on moving its target forward to 2030.

Background

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the world needs to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by the middle of the century.
To keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) — the target to which world leaders promised to try to limit global warming — humanity must cut pollution fast.
Net-zero means societies have to suck out as much carbon as they pump into the atmosphere. But technologies to remove carbon dioxide are limited and scientists are unsure how much they can absorb.
Still, that finding has led more than 100 countries to set net-zero targets for around 2050. Pressure is also rising on rich countries who have polluted the most, particularly those in Europe and North America, to move faster.

EU Mission: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities

Cities play a pivotal role in achieving climate neutrality by 2050, the goal of the European Green Deal. They take up only 4% of the EU’s land area, but they are home to 75% of EU citizens. Furthermore, cities consume over 65% of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions.
Aims of the Mission
The Cities Mission will involve local authorities, citizens, businesses, investors as well as regional and national authorities to
Deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030
Ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050
As foreseen in its implementation plan, the Cities Mission takes a cross-sectoral and demand-led approach, creating synergies between existing initiatives and basing its activities on the actual needs of cities.

NetZero Cities Project

NetZero Cities is part of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme in support of European Union’s Green Deal.
NetZero Cities has been designed to help cities overcome the current structural, institutional and cultural barriers they face in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.

Climate Neutrality

Climate neutrality refers to the idea of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by balancing those emissions so they are equal (or less than) the emissions that get removed through the planet’s natural absorption; in basic terms it means we reduce our emissions through climate action.
Note : UN Climate Change launched Climate Neutral Now back in 2015 in order to encourage stakeholders around the world to work towards net zero emissions and a climate neutral world.

Climate Neutral Now Initiative

The Climate Neutral Now Initiative is one of several initiatives launched by the UNFCCC secretariat to increase climate action by engaging non-Party stakeholders (sub-national governments, companies, organizations, individuals).
It was launched in 2015 based on a mandate to promote the voluntary use of carbon market mechanisms recognized under the Convention.