MADRID, 12 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The European Commission, through its vice president and head of the European Green Deal, Maros Sefcovic, has announced that five Spanish cities (Madrid, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza) will receive the ‘Mission Label’, after the evaluation of their climate agreements.
This 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 national, regional and the 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 main instruments to put innovation at the forefront. service of the ecological and digital transition of cities.
The mission involves 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 so that all European cities achieve this same objective. in the middle of the century.
On November 25, 2021, the Commission launched the call for ‘expression of interest’ so that cities could apply to be part of said mission, sending information about their current situation, actions underway and future plans to achieve climate neutrality in 2030.
The call 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 concluded in April 2022, with the announcement of the 100 EU cities invited to be part of the European Mission, in addition to another 12 from 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.
