Pilot Cities Programme: Call for Pilot Cities, Cohort 2 (2023)

The aim of this call is to select from Mission Cities a cohort of Pilot Cities, which will explore and test pathways to accelerated change towards 2030 climate neutrality goals — relevant to a city’s key emission domains — and to generate accelerated learning that can inform subsequent replication and scaling efforts in all other EU cities. 

How to submit a proposal? 

The applications are submitted through online grant management platform, Plaza.

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 (who are not yet part of the Pilot Cities Programme portfolio) and therefore these consortia may not include other city, district, or municipal authorities (i.e., ‘non-Mission’) or existing Pilot Cities. 

A group of Mission Cities (national or trans-national) may apply together in a consortium, however, one of the Mission Cities will have to be designated as the consortium leader for all administrative and process-related purposes. The logic behind a joint application will need to be explained in the proposal. 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 in 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.  

Evaluation process 

This Call will follow a three-stage evaluation and selection process: 

Stage 1: Eligibility check 

The eligibility check stage entails the assessment of pass/fail requirements (see 5.2 of the Call Guidelines). 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 (see section 5.3 of the Call Guidelines) 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. This evaluation is made using sub-criteria grouped into the three main categories elaborated below: 

• Mandate to Act: under this grouping of criteria, we will mostly assess the political mandate and support of the proposed pilot activities; the relevance and understanding of the city/district’s emissions domains (in focus under the proposed pilot activities) and the identified barriers to change that will be addressed; and the city/district’s orientation to prospective solutions and/or approaches to overcoming these. 
• Capacity to Act: under this grouping of criteria we will mostly assess the city/district’s existing and/or proposed approach to engaging with key stakeholders, as well as plans for how citizens will be involved in the proposed activities as relevant; the proposed organisational and cross-department/functional capacity and leadership of the city/district in implementing the pilot activities; the planning for and integration of considerations relating to diversity, inclusion, gender, and justice/just transition throughout the pilot activities; and the coherence of the proposed work plan and budget as they relate to the proposed activities. 
• Impact: under this grouping of criteria we will mostly assess the anticipated direct impacts and indicators proposed by the city/district for measuring change/impact; anticipated indirect impact(s) and co-benefits; the proposed approach to governance and learning, and prospects for transfer, replication, and scaling; plans for risk management and continuous learning; and the change anticipated to be seen in the city following the implementation of pilot activities.  

In order to proceed to Stage 3 – Strategic Selection, proposals will need to meet minimum threshold scores in each of the three grouped criteria and any specified individual criteria. 

Stage 3: Strategic Selection 

The selection committee will choose a cohort of Pilot Cities to join the portfolio of Pilots Cities1 through a dedicated selection process, a so-called ‘portfolio selection process’, based on the criteria outlined in the Section 5.4 of the Call Guidelines. The selection of the Pilot Cities to be supported through the subgrants will build on the review by independent external experts and the scores noted in Stage 2. 

The total available budget under this call is between a minimum of 12 million and a maximum of 20 million Euros (EUR). The funding will be allocated across three subgrant envelopes as follows: 

• 500,000 to 600,000 EUR: proposals with a minimum of one city/district plus at least one additional consortium partner (NB: the additional consortium partner may be another eligible Mission city/district).  
• 1,000,000 EUR: proposals with a minimum of two cities/districts, plus any additional consortium partners. 
• 1,500,000 EUR: proposals with a minimum of three cities/districts plus any additional consortium partners. 

Timeline: 

• 5 September 2023, 12:00 CEST – call launch 
• 6 November 2023, 17:00 CET – call deadline 
• 22 January 2023 – decision communication 
• February – March 2024 – Boot Camp 
• February – April –2024 Award Agreement development 
• 1 May 2024 – programme starting date 
• 30 April 2026 – programme ending date 

Info Sessions:

• 7 September 2023 – 15:00 – 16:30: Ambition, approach and technical information – call launch >> registration link
• 14 September 2023 – 15:00 – 16:30: Eligibility, Assessment Criteria Submission platform >> registration link
• 19 September 2023 – 15:00 – 16:30: Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning & Sensemaking >> registration link
• 26 September 2023 – 15:00 – 16:30: Get inspired! Meeting with existing Pilot Cities >> registration link
• 5 October 2023 – 15:00 – 16:00: Boot Camp and Twinning Learning Programme >> registration link

Relevant documentation: 

• Call Guidelines - provide information on the aim, scope and approach of the call and clarify how to submit a proposal, budget requirements and the review mechanism and decision-making process. 
• Call Financial Guidelines - explain the application budget and contain the main legal and financial rules. 
• Call Guidebook - includes a detailed overview of the programme, its approach, expected outcomes, and key concepts and terminology. 
• Call Form Template – a draft application template to be used for collaborative application writing. Please note that the application is submitted through a dedicated platform, outside of this form template. 
• Budget template – an Excel-based budget template to support cities and their consortium partners to draft budgets, prior to putting them in the submission system.
• Impact Framework and Indicators Template - a template that summarises the 'impact' section of your application and will be attached to your application in the system. Please refer to the pre-selected indicators in the Indicator Set when choosing your indicators.

All of the above files are available on this webpage: https://netzerocities.eu/pilot-cities-programme/

Form of grant:

Financial support is provided in the form of cascading grants based on, and reimbursed against, actual costs incurred and submitted in interim and final reporting.

The Pilot Cities Programme will support piloting activities aiming at a larger scale to deploy and scale systemic solutions, exploiting Research & Innovation (R&I) outcomes, and combining social, cultural, technological, nature-based, regulatory, and financial innovation and new business and governance models to underpin the climate transition.  

The selection of Pilot Cities to join the existing portfolio will result in multiple pilot-activity-types, each of which generates a different test of change and proves diverse types of pathways – as such, a cohort of diverse pilots. 

Activities eligible for funding are: 

• Pioneering activities to support climate-neutrality, including the deployment of innovative (new or improved) technology, product, process, service, solution, policy, or governance model at city level, explored in a cross-sectoral and systemic manner. 
• Systemic, science-based innovative initiatives that strengthen cities’ use of scientific research and ensure translation of research results into policy actions, to accelerate climate neutrality in the sectors/domains of water, food, energy, industry, housing and deep building retrofitting, transport, and mobility through the levers of green technology (i.e., digitalisation), behavioural/lifestyle change, social innovation, culture, policy and regulation, finance, and new business models (e.g., circular economy). These innovations shall account for co-benefits (e.g., health promotion) and the "Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle. 
• Activities to support climate-neutrality to establish new knowledge and build capacity and capabilities of city government and associated local actors through training, workshops, and other forms of learning. 
• Activities aiming to build more collaborative communities, to advance new governance models at city level, and to engage citizens (including vulnerable/marginalised groups) and enable them to act on climate change in a systemic and cross-sectoral manner. 

Please note: Pilot activities may cover several or all of these descriptions of eligible activities: this list is intended to allow for flexibility in proposing activities, rather than limiting proposed activities to any one alone.