At all levels of government, from the European to the local, commitment to place the green transition at the centre of the recovery following the COVID-19 crisis is strong, as recently emphasized by EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, who, following a call with national ministers in charge of energy policy, said:
On the local level, the European Committee of the Regions have expressed a similar view and called for a strong EU budget to help cities and regions overcome the current crisis and ”invest in a sustainable future”.
That local support for sustainability is to play an important role in the post-COVID world, is also welcomed by the Smart Cities community. Since April an open call for smart city project proposals has opened by the EIP-SCC, and with the immediate impact of the crisis being addressed, cities now have an unique chance to find the necessary external finance for new, and sustainable, smart city projects, Jorge Rodrigues de Almeida, Matchmaking specialist of the EIP-SCC explains:
"The feedback that we are getting suggests that members of our Investor Network are closely following the signals coming from the European level, national governments and local authorities. The commitment to sustainability is clear and provides encouragement to finance smart and sustainable projects. That's why the EIP-SCC is working hard to connect well designed projects with the requirements of investors."
While it is still too early to draw any conclusions on the long-term impacts of COVID19, the initial feedback from the Investor Community is clear. In a statement released recently, the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) called for the use of existing tools such as the EU taxonomy, EU Green Bond Standard and Climate Transition Benchmarks to support a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
“Investments in Smart City solutions will increase in the near future with cities, financial institutions and governments all looking to address this disruptive period. In the long term we may see a rethinking of urban planning with issues such as social cohesion, changing mobility patterns and shifting requirements to office real estate planning and home energy consumption due to lasting virtual work patterns and fair access to clean and affordable energy becoming much more dominant. Smart City solutions can help cities deliver on those issues,” concludes Jorge Rodrigues de Almeida.
For cities with interest in Smart City projects, the EIP-SCC welcomes proposals through the ‘project intake form’ or encourages cities to join a webinar on 18 June on Smart City Delivery Models, highlighting the different approaches government can take to support the uptake of smart solutions.