Cork and Budapest awarded EU Mission Labels as TIPS4PED takes part in the Mission Cities Conference 2025

As part of the Positive Energy District Cluster, TIPS4PED cities attended the fourth edition of the Mission Cities Conference,  6-8 May, in  Vilnius, Lithuania. Amongst the cities in the spotlight were the TIPS4PED partners of Kozani, Budapest (Kobanya), Torino and Cork.

The theme of this conference “Harnessing City Successes: Advancing Climate Action for 2030” had the objective of highlighting the progress and ambition of Mission Cities, and their partners, as they continue efforts to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. Organised by the European Commission and the Mission Platform, the conference brought together political representatives and city practitioners to celebrate the Mission’s considerable progress after three years.

The new Mission Cities Label recipients gather on stage during the award ceremony.

A significant milestone was reached with the awarding of the Mission Cities Label to 39 new cities in recognition of their Climate City Contracts (CCC) and the commitment made to achieving climate neutrality. This latest round of awards brings the total to 92 out of the 112 Mission Cities of the platform, among these latest recipients were TIPS4PED partner cities, Cork and Kobanya (as a district of Budapest). This packed ceremony on stage marked the moment that all TIPS4PED partner cities officially became Mission City Label holders!

Honore Kamegni, Councillor from Cork and Deputy Lord Mayor Donna Cooney. (Credits: Dublin City Council)

Several sessions of the programme were dedicated to Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) and we were fortunate enough to hear from more mature PED projects in cities such as Munich, Zaragoza, Lyon, and Stockholm, as well as, Glasgow, and TIPS4PED’s Lighthouse City, Torino.

Philippe Fournand, CEO of Blue-Sight, speaking of the PED experience in Lyon spoke to the crucial role that governments and local authorities can play in bringing together stakeholders when establishing a PED. In the case of Lyon, the city has had success with its special purpose vehicle model (a private company fully owned by the city) to drive the development of the PED. Meanwhile, in the case of Stockholm, citizens themselves have come together to build a community-led initiative to establish a PED. Both Lyon and Stockholm are partners in the ASCEND project that similarly aims to turn PEDs (or PCEDs – Positive Clean Energy Districts) into a default energy solution in European cities. More can be read about ASCEND and their achievements on the project website.

Torino Technical Officer presents Torino’s Digital Twin and PED initiatives.

In the Stakeholder’s dialogue session: How data-driven, AI and smart city solutions can support climate-neutral cities, Luca Marasco Belcastro, Technical Officer at the City of Torino, took to the stage to present a summary of Torino’s CCC and the steps being taken to realise a Digital Twin platform, as part of TIPS4PED, to support municipalities in implementing PEDs. Torino’s role as the TIPS4PED Lighthouse City ensures that the city will work on the three pillars outlined in their CCC. Principally, project activities will ensure a coordinated engagement between all city actors and stakeholders and crucially assist in the development of their “Data lakehouse,” from which the TIPS4PED Digital Twin will likely draw its data. Luca explained how, once the Digital Twin and decarbonisation maps have been produced, the next objective is to then replicate the successful Digital Twin tool to other cities, principally TIPS4PED followers, Cork, Kozani and Kobanya. All the while, stakeholder and citizen engagement will inform the project’s actions as the Digital Twin develops over time.

The Cities Mission Conference 2025 provided a valuable opportunity for NetZeroCities stakeholders and related projects to come together and learn from one another. Though the work to achieve climate neutrality by 2030 is far from over, we can draw plenty of inspiration from the achievements and commitments made to date. TIPS4PED and our partners will continue working towards our goal of developing Digital Twins for PED implementation, in aid of the Mission Cities main objective.

Next up, TIPS4PED will be gathering in Cork for our fourth General Assembly in June 2025, sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about our latest developments from the project and our partners!