NetZeroCities ECT2: Enabling City Transformation 2

This Call for proposals, to support the drastic cut down of greenhouse gas emissions and the achievement of ‘climate neutrality’, invites Mission Cities from the “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” to undertake a 22‑month grant-supported programme centred around innovations that aim to overcome systemic implementation challenges in order to shift the dial from testing and experimentation to enable whole-city transformation and generate evidence fit for multi-city pan-European replication and adoption.

Reflecting the experiences and learnings from previous calls, the ECT2 call particularly seeks solutions that can translate enabling innovations into durable and policy-anchored delivery structures which will more likely generate sustained emissions reductions and EU-wide transformation.

For any information please contact ect@netzerocities.eu.

How to submit a proposal?

The applications are submitted online via the grant management platform:

If not already registered with the system, use this link to register.

If you have previously registered with the system (i.e. for applying to one of the Pilot Cities Programme calls): please use this link (and bookmark it!) to log-in.

If you do not remember your password, please use these password reset instructions

Guidance on how to submit your application can be found through the following links:

• How to register in the System?
• FAQ & Instructions

Please note that any proposals submitted outside of the proposal submission system will not be accepted; and that the system will be locked after the deadline. If you experience technical difficulties, please consult the system guidance. If you are still unable to resolve your system issue, follow the guidance on how to raise a support request via appropriate channels.

Who can apply?

Only local authorities or city administrations selected to be part of EU Mission for climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 (Mission Cities) are eligible to apply to and receive funding under this Call. For the avoidance of doubt, this call is addressed to designated Mission cities only and therefore these consortia may not include other city, district, or municipal authorities (i.e., ‘non-Mission’).

Please note: Administrations of a higher level of governance (i.e., a metropolis, region, or national/governmental departments) are eligible to participate as consortium partners where there is a formal governance link with the Mission City/cities leading or involved with the proposal. However, they do not count towards the eligible Mission City count (i.e., as related to the prescribed budget envelopes and the number present in the proposal) unless the metropolis or region is itself the Mission City, formally.

A group of Mission Cities (national or trans-national) may apply together in a consortium. However, in that case, one of the Mission Cities will have to be designated as the consortium leader for all administrative and process-related purposes. In the case of a group of cities applying together in one proposal, the size of the requested subgrant must follow the award amounts as stated at section 7.3 of the Call Guidelines.

Other organisations could also participate as members of a consortium led by a Mission City. These organisations could be, for example: research institutions, universities, SMEs, NGOs, associations, citizen groups or other relevant stakeholders involved in the implementation of the climate ambitions of a Mission City participating in the consortium.

For comprehensive information, including eligibility criteria, please consult the Call Guidelines.

Evaluation process

This Call will follow a three-stage evaluation and selection process, as described in chapter 9 of the call guidelines:

Stage 1: Eligibility check

The eligibility check stage entails the assessment of pass/fail requirements . Proposals must comply to the full set of eligibility criteria to proceed to Stage 2.

Proposals that fail the eligibility criteria will not be considered further in the process and applicants will be informed of the outcome.

Stage 2: Evaluation and scoring of eligible proposals

Scores will be made against the individual assessment criteria by at least two independent external experts, based on the submitted proposals. These experts are appointed from the pool of experts identified through an open call and contracted by the coordinator as part of the NetZeroCities project. The experts from this pool are deployed against all Calls for NetZeroCities sub-granting programmes. This evaluation is made using criteria grouped into the three main categories of: Mandate to Act, Capacity to Act, and Impact.

The detailed criteria for assessment of proposals for the SGA3-NZC ECT2 programme’s financial support to third parties scheme is defined in section 9.3 of the Call Guidelines.

Stage 3: Portfolio selection & Funding decision

The selection committee will select a portfolio of interventions through a dedicated selection process. The portfolio will be selected with the intention to support Mission Cities to overcome challenges to, experimenting with, and learning about, the implementation phase of the Cities Mission: i.e. enabling (Cities) Mission innovation implementation. It will also aim at complementing the existing cohorts of Enabling and Pilot Cities (i.e. inter-cohort portfolio) selected through previous calls, creating opportunities to exploit learning and outcomes of these diverse interventions over the course of the programme.

All submissions will be assessed fairly and transparently in the scope of the eligibility criteria, assessment of quality criteria, and strategic programme considerations as outlined in section 9.4 of the Call Guidelines. Decisions as to whether a proposal is accepted or rejected will be communicated as detailed in this document.