Cities - where change happens.
13 cities. 20 million citizens. 1 common goal.
The strength of the Climate Campaigners project comes from our diversity. That might sound like a cliché, but it's true. In 13 Lighthouse Cities across Europe (and some outside!), citizens will be encouraged and supported to engage on climate action through our app. Naturally, the specific climate-related challenges to solve vary between these cities/regions, but they are all united by their will to lead by example, together with their citizens. Note that a few of the cities are in fruitful collaboration with local stakeholders as part of the project.
In the map as well as in the list below, you'll find our Lighthouse Cities. Together, we're taking citizen action on the climate crisis to the next level - backed by science.
Dublin
Dublin is the capital city of the Republic of Ireland and is located on the east coast of the country. Dublin City Council (DCC) is the local authority responsible for ensuring that the city and its citizens thrive. Our vision is for Dublin to be a dynamic, sustainable city, that is future-ready, built on thriving, inclusive neighbourhoods and communities, a strong economy, a vibrant cultural life, and compact, connected growth as stated in our DCC’s Corporate Plan (2020-2024). DCC is a signatory of EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. We are commited us to reducing our emissions by 50% by 2030, and building resilience to climate change through integrated and collaborative responses with people at the centre. Dublin City Council, has made a commitment to future generations by signing the WHO Breathe Life Campaign with its youth council, Comhairle na nÓg, present at the ceremony in February 2020. Dublin’s air quality is good, and maintaining this now and into the future requires that we take action.
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Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy (1.400.000 inhabitants in its Municipality, 180 km²), and the administrative and business centre in the largest Italian metropolitan area, with 134 Municipalities and more than 3 million inhabitants, representing 10% of National GDP. Milan Municipality is the local public authority in charge of delivering a large number of essential services across the city (sport, education, social services, economic development). Open to innovation, resilient solutions and a cross-cultural approach, Milan is an active member in many European and international networks: Eurocities network, C40-Cities Climate Leadership Group, Urban Development Network (sustainable urban development strategies), 100 Global Resilient Cities Network. Moreover, in 2021 Milan was recognised as a “Resilience Hub” for the UNDRR Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative.
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Izmir
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) plays a vital role in the local administration of Izmir, being the third-largest city in Türkiye with a population of around 4 million people. Located on the west coast of Türkiye by the Aegean Sea, Izmir is one of the major port cities in the Mediterranean. Its area of responsibility encompasses the entire provincial territory, which spans an area of 12.000 km², including 30 districts, 11 of which belong to the metropolitan area. IMM is responsible for social projects, environment, IT, transportation, energy, natural resources supply, infrastructure, planning and development, community services, vocational education, health, culture, tourism, etc.
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Lahti
Lahti is a city of 120.000 residents and a centre for a region of 200.000 people. It has the best of both worlds: the attractiveness, intimate cosiness and originality of a small town, yet the services, efficiency and logistics of a major city. Lahti has been working on sustainability and environmental issues for decades already and has been awarded the European Green Capital 2021.
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Linz
Linz is the third largest city in Austria and home to 208.000 inhabitants. As one of the country's economic centres it furthermore hosts a sizable steel and chemical industry. Overall, the public and private sectors in Linz provide 207.000 jobs, resulting in 82.000 daily commuters. The Danube River running through the city plays an important role for recreation, tourism and the transport of goods or raw materials for the local industry. As European Capital of Culture in 2009, Linz is known for its vibrant music and arts scene.
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Skopelos
The island of Skopelos lies amidst the Sporades island complex, covering a total area of 96 km² and housing 5.000 residents. 67% of the island is covered by pinetree forest leading to its official declaration as a "blue and green island" by the Biopolitics International Organisation, and more than half of the island is a protected NATURA2000 area. Its characteristics have made it a major tourist attraction during the summer months. Along with the CAMPAIGNers project, the municipality also intends to participate in a number of HORIZON projects, proceed to energy efficiency improvement of public buildings, waste management infrastructure, promote RES and electric transportation, forest protection projects, working towards a greener future for the island and its inhabitants.
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Freistadt
Freistadt is the district capital and has a historic city center with a completely preserved city wall. About 8.000 people live in Freistadt, and the city is characterized by a high quality of life. Two local district heating networks supply part of the city, with one network being operated by a farmers' cooperative for 20 years.
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Vilnius
Vilnius is Lithuania’s capital city with 563.000 citizens. Having one of the youngest population in the EU, Vilnius is also proud to be called the Green City. According to the latest Husqvarna Urban Green Space Index (HUGSI), Vilnius is the greenest city in Europe (62% of Vilnius territory is greenery; by this measure the city ranks third in the world). The well-preserved and appealing old town of the 16th century (UNESCO world heritage city since 1994) offers art and history museums, cultural activities, traditional fairs, shopping and gourmet restaurants. The old town is the heart of the city, surrounded by districts of various urbanistic and architecture styles from early gothic to baroque and finally – from Soviet to contemporary.
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Pesaro
Pesaro is a port city in the Marche region and the capital and administrative centre of the province of Pesaro and Urbino. The city has about 100,000 inhabitants in an urban area of 126 km² and the second most heavily populated in the region. Already placed 6th among 104 main municipalities in Italy in the ranking of green cities in the country by Legambiente, a well-established Italian non-for-profit organization.
Grenoble
Gateway of the French Alps, Grenoble is a dense city of more than 160.000 inhabitants, at the heart of a conurbation of more than 450.000 inhabitants. From very early on, the city redoubled its efforts, raising its ambitions with regard to quality of life and respect for the environment: Grenoble has had a local climate plan in place since 2005, the first one in France. Thanks to the cross-cutting and pioneering nature of its actions in favour of the ecological transition, Grenoble was chosen to be the European Green Capital in 2022.
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La Libertad
The Peruvian city of La Libertad is represented by the company Unus Peru SAC. Unus Peru SAC is a decentralized private organization that particularly promotes a sustainable development of regions through scientific technology transfer from the European companies to Peru. As an organization, it maintains an ethical culture, based on the promotion and practice of the values of honesty, equity, transparency and solidarity. Likewise, they use the resources and competencies assigned with efficiency and effectiveness.
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Cape Town
The coastal city of Cape Town is South Africa’s second largest city, home to almost 5 million residents, and serves as the country’s legislative capital. Also known as the Mother City, Cape Town is renowned for its natural beauty, including the unique Cape Floral Kingdom and landmarks such as Table Mountain and the Cape Peninsular. Home to diverse and vibrant communities, Cape Town also has a rich cultural and political history, forming the backdrop to many of the nation’s important historical moments, including during the struggle against the Apartheid system and the transition to democracy. The City of Cape Town is the governing municipality, responsible for service delivery and development for residents across its almost 2.500 km² area and 300 km coastline. The City has committed to being climate resilient and carbon neutral by 2050, and in 2021 launched its Climate Change Action Plan as the roadmap to achieving this goal.
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Trois-Rivières
The City of Trois-Rivières has entrusted Innovation et Développement Economique Trois-Rivières with a vital role: to advance and coordinate economic development across the entire Trois-Rivières region. IDE Trois-Rivières offers one-stop, front line service to business people and creates a prosperous living environment for all citizens. Our team of nearly 40 professionals is dedicated to support the new and existing businesses, industrials and sciences park management, managing Aéroport Trois-Rivières and to Tourism industry development and attractivity.
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Is your city interested?
While these Lighthouse Cities above will act as pioneers in Climate Campaigners, we are very keen to increase the impact by including more cities, as so called Amplifier Cities. 25 have already reported their interest to become Amplifier Cities, thereby gaining direct access to all of the useful outputs of the project and taking the campaign forward.
Why wouldn't your city want to take the opportunity? Let us know!
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