Representatives from around 15 European cities took part in the webinar Funding and Innovative Financing Instruments for Cities, organised by NetZeroCities as part of its Twinning Learning Programme, to explore how EU funding and innovative financing can help move climate-neutral solutions from planning to implementation.
The webinar brought together key European initiatives to address one of the main challenges cities face: overcoming funding and financing barriers to transferring and scaling climate-neutral solutions developed through peer learning.
The first session featured contributions from the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), which presented funding opportunities under Horizon Europe Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy and Mobility) and LIFE Clean Energy Transition Project Development Assistance. These instruments support cities in the early development and structuring of sustainable urban projects.
Further perspectives were provided by the European Urban Initiative (EUI) Innovation Actions and the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership, highlighting opportunities for experimentation, innovation support and collaboration across cities.
Within this ecosystem of support, the Smart Cities Marketplace was presented by Luigi Lo Piparo, Matchmaking Coordinator, as a hands-on implementation support facility. The Marketplace complements EU funding programmes by helping cities advance climate-neutral projects towards implementation, replication and scalability. Through tailored one-to-one advisory services, project structuring support and facilitated access to financing, the Smart Cities Marketplace helps bridge the gap between pilots, investment-ready actions and bankable projects.
The webinar also included a deep dive into innovative financing instruments led by Eurocities, alongside practical tools such as Funding Partner Watch. These contributions illustrated how cities can strategically combine grants, advisory services and financing instruments to accelerate investments in clean energy, sustainable mobility and climate-neutral urban development.
Overall, the webinar underlined that EU initiatives deliver the strongest impact when used together. That coordination across programmes and support facilities is essential to move from learning and planning to concrete implementation and investment.