Track: Energy & Environment

Can cities lead the global fight against climate change? Urban centers, heavily impacted by the climate emergency, hold the power to implement specialized policies and actions to address this urgent issue. These initiatives, affecting a significant portion of the world's population, could drive substantial progress in mitigating environmental impacts and promoting a sustainable future. By leveraging their unique position, cities can spearhead global efforts to combat climate change and ensure long-term environmental resilience.

Building resilient and smart cities requires integrating nature into urban ecosystems, with trees playing a pivotal role. Trees enhance air quality and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. Their shade lowers surface temperatures and fosters healthier communities. By prioritizing urban forests, cities can create resilient and liveable environments to face future challenges. This session will discuss Plant-for-the-Planet’s Green Belt project in Granada, a new ecosystem of native species for the city.

The effects of the climate emergency are disrupting our urban lifestyles. How can cities integrate environmental considerations into urban development to create more resilient, livable, and sustainable public spaces? How do green spaces in cities contribute to improving the quality of life for residents, fostering community engagement, ensuring accessibility and safety, and enhancing mental and physical well-being?

Increasing environmental pressures are changing the collection of natural resources, and circular practices are an efficient, green solution. These practices provide food security, water management, and waste reduction. What innovative strategies promote circularity in urban resource management? How can this approach address environmental, social, and economic challenges?

EU cities are key in advancing climate adaptation, reaching net-zero goals, and enhancing industry competitiveness. They are vital for the Green Deal’s 55% emission reduction target by 2030. This session focuses on accelerating cities' sustainable transformation, deploying new net-zero technologies, and creating a supportive environment by exploring action plans and strategies to make climate neutrality appealing, competitive, and accessible.

Cities and the private sector must join forces to develop a zero-carbon, resilient, and inclusive urban regeneration model. What are the strategies that cities can uptake? What is the private sector’s role? This session will showcase best practices and flagship urban regeneration projects including Reinventing Cities - a powerful initiative involving 30 global cities and over 3500 businesses to date.

The successful deployment of zero-emission technologies, both at vehicle and infrastructure level, heavily depend on their adoptions by private and public vehicle fleets. This panel will reflect on the importance of fleets to accelerate the adoption of cleaner forms of mobility and will explore the role of fleets in supporting transformational mobility innovations.

How will public and private vehicle fleets evolve in tomorrow's mobility? What role will they play in the sustainable urban mobility transition?

Cities are increasingly experiencing the direct and indirect consequences of the climate emergency. Simultaneously, they are hubs of innovation that can enhance their resilience and foster healthier, more sustainable environments through sustainable urban planning strategies. By integrating green spaces, eco-friendly infrastructure, and renewable energy, cities are reducing carbon footprints and promoting biodiversity. How can they further leverage these strategies to combat climate change?

The latest technological advances are revolutionizing our lives. How can we use eco-innovation to make cities more energy-efficient, resilient, and environmentally friendly? This session will analyze how cutting-edge technology enhances urban green spaces and explore the challenges and solutions innovators and administrations face in creating more technological and sustainable cities.

Clean energy sources provide safer, more plentiful, and environmentally friendly solutions for decarbonization. Beyond the latest innovations proposed daily for this transition, it is important to explore how the urban fabric is implementing these measures and the effects they have on the dynamics of cities.

How is the building sector adapting to city sustainability initiatives? How can the built environment help mitigate urban climate change impacts? This session delves into new construction practices that align with city-level sustainability goals. Discussions will explore the challenges and opportunities for the building sector in supporting urban sustainability objectives, particularly in combating climate change and achieving decarbonization targets.

Cities are where the impacts of extreme heat events are felt hardest. Extreme heat events have been identified as the most lethal of climate-related disasters, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations including the elderly, economically and socially disadvantaged, and those with disabilities. This session shares lessons from C40 cities on how they act to cool neighborhoods and buildings and protect their residents.

The Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission aims for 100 cities to become climate neutral by 2030, inspiring all other cities to follow suit by 2050. Since the Mission started in 2021, dozens of cities have built innovative climate plans, making bold commitments and rethinking their approach to climate action. Discover their journey!

Dive into the dynamic world of Urban Shark Tank, where innovative companies present bold, climate-smart use cases to a panel of city leaders. The stakes are high as these "sharks" probe deeply, asking tough questions about the replicability of each use case. Can these solutions be successfully implemented across diverse urban landscapes? The most adaptable and scalable cases will earn the sharks' support and win prizes from the audience!

Almost 10 years after the Paris Agreement, citizens are increasingly struggling with the effects of a constantly changing climate, experiencing unprecedented high temperatures and an elevated risk of disasters. Despite this, the role cities play in addressing the climate crisis demonstrates how local efforts can drive meaningful results on a global scale. In this session, we will explore the adaptation strategies and best practices cities implement to achieve climate goals.

The intersection of enabling technologies and sustainability is revolutionizing how environmental challenges are addressed. Innovations such as IoT, AI, and renewable energy systems are enhancing energy efficiency, reducing carbon footprints, and making our overall existence more sustainable. As societies become more aware of the urgent need to adopt sustainable practices, tech leaders are pioneering the transition to a greener, more sustainable future for our planet.

A climate neutral EU can only be achieved with a strong involvement of cities and regions. Here, we bring together high-level representatives of sub-national authorities sharing their experience with proven scalable innovative planning and financing solutions to give local action the spotlight in the achievement of Europe's energy and climate goals.