Leuven Mission City

Carbon Emissions, Innovation

Delivering a Climate City Contract, together

Partners: Leuven 2030 (Non-profit), Stad Leuven (Local government), KU Leuven (Non-profit), Imec (Non-profit), Leuven MindGate (Civil society organisation), Leuven Europa Club (Civil society organisation)

Pledge

With its selection to the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, the city of Leuven has taken on the daunting task of achieving net-zero emissions before the decade is out. Reaching this goal will require not only bold action from the city itself but also the mobilisation and active participation of the city’s entire ecosystem of actors, working together.

Establishing and nurturing such a collective effort has long been at the heart of Leuven’s climate approach. In 2013, the city, alongside 60 other stakeholders, co-founded Leuven 2030, a platform for structural cooperation between citizens, companies, local authorities, and knowledge institutions to accelerate the transition to a climate-neutral Leuven. A major milestone followed in 2019, when the platform produced a Roadmap to climate neutrality, laying out across 10 thematic programmes (including buildings, mobility, and energy) and three cross-cutting programmes (including governance, finance, and monitoring) what is needed to reach net-zero (https://roadmap-en.leuven2030.be/).

As a Mission city, Leuven will seek to scale and speed up its efforts to become climate-neutral and continue to nurture and grow its ecosystem approach. With this pledge, the city of Leuven, KU Leuven, imec, Leuven Europa Club, Leuven MindGate, and Leuven 2030 commit to collectively leading the way on the Mission. We commit to devoting our time, energy, and passion to the design and implementation of Leuven’s action and investment plan. And we pledge to contribute firm commitments to the Climate City Contract, to share progress publicly, and to inspire, support, and enable others in the Leuven ecosystem and beyond to do the same.

We thus pledge to:

• Take active part in and be champions of the Mission
• Build and support a coalition of actors aligned to the common goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2030
• Pursue innovation across multiple domains, including governance, technology, finance, participation, and regulation
• Partner and align with higher policy levels
• Work in an evidence-based and data-driven manner and prioritise the most impactful measures
• Improve transparency and foster a sense of shared responsibility
• Look beyond the possibilities of our individual organisations and consider what can be achieved collectively

The pledge’s main deliverable is a co-created, science-based, and broadly supported Climate City Contract. We aim to complete our Climate City Contract no later than the fall of 2023.

Activities

Activities associated with the first phase of the Mission process. These are aimed at delivering a Climate City Contract, which is to consist of three parts: commitments (from the city as well as from other stakeholders), an action plan (describing the sets of actions needed to get to net-zero by 2030), and an investment plan (describing the capital and investment needs associated with those actions, and how to meet them). Activities are expected to include:

• Setting up a process for co-creation and the exchange of knowledge (“Share”)
• Securing concrete commitments from stakeholders (“Target”)
• Mapping capital needs to enable investment (“Invest”)
• Mobilising stakeholders to contribute to the Climate City Contract (“Voice”)
• Designing an action and investment plan (“Plan”).

The pledge touches on a wide range of topics, but its main goal is to assist delivery of Leuven’s Climate City Contract, which aims to enable large emissions reductions (“Carbon Emissions”) through, in large part, innovation across a range of domains (“Innovation”).

The pledge is linked to the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.

Target audience: the pledging organisations and the local communities.

Motivation

Leuven’s approach to climate action has long been collaborative. This stems from a recognition that the climate crisis, even at the local level, is a collective challenge that no individual actor can solve on its own. In that same spirit, we wish to embark on the latest leg of our journey – the city’s selection to the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities – together. Through this pledge, the partners express their joint commitment to the objectives of the Mission and promise to be active champions of, and participants in, the process to deliver the Mission’s first milestone: a Climate City Contract.

Pledge submitted by Leuven 2030.

Status date: Submitted (15/09/2021)

Data source: Self-reported

https://roadmap-en.leuven2030.be