Insights from Cork and Turin: New report shows how standards support climate-neutral urban development

TIPS4PED cities Cork and Turin join a group of eight cities demonstrating how digital innovation can drive Europe’s transition toward climate-neutral urban development. Their experiences form a central part of the work of the CEN/TC 465 Ad hoc Group on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and Communities, which examined how standards can help scale and sustain this transformation across Europe.

Cork and Turin showcased how integrated digital tools and data governance frameworks can support climate action planning and cross-departmental collaboration, highlighting the role of local digital twins in enabling systemic and citizen-centred urban change. Both cities illustrate the need for interoperable solutions, harmonised methodologies, and capacity-building frameworks – areas where standardisation can provide crucial support.

Over the course of ten months, the group mapped these city insights against existing European and international standards and assessed alignment with key policy instruments such as Climate City Contracts and Local Green Deals. This analysis informed a set of targeted recommendations, including the creation of a new Working Group under CEN/TC 465, stronger cooperation with EU initiatives and Standard Developing Organisations, and structured integration of project outputs through CEN Workshop Agreements and new work items.

The group concludes that cities and communities such as Cork and Turin exemplify Europe’s cities’ innovative capacity and the pivotal role that standards can play in scaling their achievements. The Ad hoc Group thanks all contributors and encourages continued leadership within CEN/TC 465 to advance this work.

Read the report here