Mayor inaugurates the EU mission label
The Mayor of Kranj, Matjaž Rakovec, today received the EU mission label at a ceremony in Strasbourg for Kranj's successful action and investment plan to make Kranj a climate-neutral and smart city by 2030.
On 8 October this year, the European Commission announced that Kranj is among the 20 European cities that are in the Mission of Climate Neutral and Smart European Cities 2030, and that their climate city contracts submitted in March have received a positive assessment by the European Commission after a thorough review.
Today, the EU Mission labels were officially received by representatives of the cities, including the Mayor of Kranj, Matjaž Rakovec. They were officially presented with them by Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where she said: "Congratulations to the 20 cities that have committed to becoming climate-neutral. You lead by example in making our cities more liveable and sustainable, and at the same time making Europe more competitive in the global cleantech race. The Commission will continue to support you in transforming your ambitious plans into concrete projects."
The EU Mission Label opens up avenues for cities to access public and private funding to achieve their goals and ensures continued EU support to make them a reality. They will have access to an international financial resource (the Climate City Capital Hub), backed also by private capital, and will also be eligible for €2 billion in loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
In addition to Kranj, Ljubljana is among this year's recipients of the EU Mission label, so that a total of 53 cities out of the 112 participating in the Mission now have official confirmation that they have successfully charted a successful path to decarbonisation.
"I am proud of this achievement, even if it only marks the beginning of the road to the main achievement - climate neutrality and smart community in Kranj. But without a good plan, it is hard to get there successfully. And now we have Europe's confirmation that our plan is comprehensive and well prepared, thanks to a good team at the municipality, the support of the profession and also the local community. During a year of intensive work on the climate contract, we have often had to look outside the box, to explore new approaches, to find good practices from elsewhere.
It sends a strong message that we are serious and professional in our approach to tackling the climate crisis, underlines the importance of collaboration and reinforces the belief that with the joint efforts of all stakeholders, the plan is achievable. We have already been paving the way towards a greener future with a number of projects in recent years and we will now be able to accelerate this, not least because of the additional project funding opportunities that this recognition brings," said Mayor of City of Kranj Matjaž Rakovec.
The award ceremony was followed by a short discussion between city representatives and Patrick Child, Head of Mission Climate Neutral and Smart Cities 2030, on what the cities' first steps will be or how they intend to move from plans to action.
Press release of European Commission is publisher here.
