Last edited: February 2025
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This section is a case study on how Viable Cities, the Swedish national platform, has worked to include a Just Transition approach in the 2024 iteration of the Swedish Climate City Contract 2030. It aims to provide inspiration for national platform facilitators to integrate a Just Transition approach into governance tools such as Climate City Contracts.
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At the heart of the EU Cities Mission are the Climate City Contracts—a governance tool that aligns local, regional, and national efforts. These contracts are co-created between municipalities, national governments, and key stakeholders, such as businesses and civil society, to ensure there are shared goals, clear pathways, and the resources needed to meet them. They represent a shift from isolated efforts to a systemic approach, ensuring that cities do not just tackle climate goals in silos, but work together in public-private partnerships to scale up solutions.
Read more on NetZeroCities Climate City Contracts:
Climate City Contract - NetZeroCities
Achieving climate neutrality in cities is not only about reducing emissions; it is about ensuring that everyone benefits from this transition. It requires a simultaneous focus on equity, democracy, participation, and co-creation, ensuring all citizens have access to clean energy, green spaces, and sustainable infrastructure. Social justice must be at the core of the green transition.
For this, it is crucial to integrate a Just Transition approach into city portfolios and at all stages of the transition process. This involves identifying and prioritising climate initiatives that deliver multiple benefits (i.e. when a single action achieves several positive outcomes) and foster synergies (i.e. when the interaction of actions produces greater combined advantages than individual efforts)