Cork and Dublin to take part in European climate neutrality project

Cork City Council chief executive Ann Doherty said the new status 'places us at the heart of the urban sustainability agenda' in Europe. File picture: Larry Cummins

Cork and Dublin are among 100 cities chosen by the European Commission to participate in a major new project aimed at climate neutrality by the end of the decade.

The two Irish cities were chosen out of 377 across the continent as "experimentation and innovation hubs to put all European cities in a position to become climate-neutral by 2050" as part of the so-called Cities Mission.

The Cities Mission is an EU objective that wants 100 guinea pig cities to implement climate neutral plans in the likes of energy, buildings, waste, and transport by 2030, so the trial and error involved can be used to make all cities in the 27-member bloc climate neutral by 2050.

Climate neutral means carbon emissions released into the atmosphere by one of the cities is balanced out by the same amount of emissions being removed.

Cork and Dublin will now have to draw up "climate city contracts" outlining their plans to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, the commission said. City leaders are expected to engage with business, citizens, and academia in drawing up their plans.

While the contracts are a "clear and highly visible political commitment", the commission said, they are not legally binding. 

Some €360m of the EU's research arm Horizon Europe will be divvied up between the cities in the next year "to start the innovation paths towards climate neutrality by 2030", the commission said.

The fund will focus on research and innovation in greener travel and urban spaces, as well as energy efficiency.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Cork and Dublin could provide "learning and inspiration for other cities and towns to follow in the decades to come" as part of the Cities Mission project.

"The Government is keen to ensure that Cork and Dublin are assisted in making best use of this opportunity and the support of relevant Government departments, agencies and bodies will be forthcoming.

"This initiative will allow for participating cities to be at the forefront of demonstrating how local authorities, relevant public bodies, business, third-level institutions, civil society and citizens can work together in practical ways to tackle emissions," he said.

Cork’s bid was evaluated across six categories including capacity, collaboration, ambition, integrated holistic approach, preparedness and digitisation, the city council said.

The local authority's chief executive, Ann Doherty, said the new status "places us at the heart of the urban sustainability agenda" in Europe. 

"It will also mean a front-loading of planned investment in the city so that we can accelerate our vision to meet the ambitious growth targets set for us in the National Planning Framework, Ireland 2040, while leading on sustainability and climate action," she added.

She warned Cork had major inroads to make to catch up to other European cities.

"While we have made considerable progress in the spheres of climate action and smart cities, I acknowledge that when compared with some of our EU counterparts we have possibly further to travel to achieve our ambition. 

"In making the application, the challenge ahead was not downplayed as we are coming from a comparatively low base but it is an acknowledgement of our ambition, achievements to date and commitment to growing Cork as a sustainable, compact, liveable city."