EU Cities Mission – Supporting New Skills for Cities: A Fair Transition to Climate-Neutrality
The EU Cities Mission will host the second webinar in its new “Philanthropy Talks: Towards Climate-Neutral Cities through Imagination, New Skills & New Economies” series on 26 February, on “Supporting New Skills for Cities: A Fair Transition to Climate-Neutrality”, with Climate-KIC.
City making is an art, not a set formula. The expertise needed to rapidly transform entire cities and revive them in a vision of sustainable development goes beyond conventional fields like architecture, construction, engineering, information technology, urban design and land-use planning. Skills for the green transition, including professional, vocational and leadership abilities, are crucial interconnected elements. Currently, significant skill shortages threaten to severely hinder the transition, foster inequalities and jeopardise the successful implementation of the EU Cities Mission and Europe’s broader aim of achieving climate neutrality and resilience.
These shortages exacerbate social disparities by creating a gap between those who possess the necessary skills and those who do not, leading to unequal access to job opportunities and economic mobility. Individuals and communities lacking these critical skillsets may find themselves marginalised, unable to fully participate in and benefit from the transition. This could deepen existing inequalities and create new ones, undermining the principles of a just and inclusive transition.
This webinar will explore the new skillsets necessary for planning and executing cities’ equitable transition towards climate neutrality, the role of both formal and informal educational models and institutions, and the impact of philanthropy in driving governance innovation.
Achieving climate-neutrality is an unprecedented challenge which requires unparalleled (re)actions, mind-bending visions nurtured by hope instead of fatalism. Public administrations and citizens cannot do it alone. Foundations are increasingly involved in supporting cities committed to reach net-zero emissions: by fostering the shift to renewable energies, by facilitating the increase of energy efficiency, or implementing sustainable practices in transportation, industry and agriculture.
Philea and Climate-KIC are launching the “Philanthropy Talks Series” to bring together thought leaders on three topics: imagination, new skills and new economies, and spotlighting emergent programmes around them.
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