Europe’s cities are no longer just testing ideas—they’re building models for the future. From energy-producing districts to cross-sector collaborations, they’re reshaping urban life to meet net-zero goals. But as climate deadlines loom, the real challenge is now turning successful experiments into standard urban practice. Before it’s too late .
Amsterdam is no longer experimenting with sustainability; it’s building the city around it. Reducing carbon emissions by 95%, compared to 1990 levels, within the next 25 years is the goal of its ambitious “Climate Neutral 2050 Roadmap.” “There’s only one moment to be on time to reduce energy consumption and emissions across environment, mobility, electricity, and industry,” states the document. And early results are already visible: the Dutch capital jumped nine places in just two years to take the top spot in the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2024. The city is also striving to achieve the Net Zero Cities Mission label while facing challenges such as grid congestion and heat transition. “First, there’s the cultural mindset which is very participatory. Then, a strong innovation ecosystem that plays a major role. And over the years, stakeholders have learned how to work together and trust one another because in Amsterdam this process started long ago” says Omar Shafqat, urban energy expert at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) and project manager at AUAS for the European consortium Atelier. In short, Amsterdam is an innovative ecosystem: a city where countless actors have long collaborated on mobility, social equity, technological innovation, and the green and circular transition.
While Amsterdam leads, Germany ranks among the most virtuous countries in the index, with four cities in the top ten: Frankfurt and Munich in fourth and fifth place, Hamburg and Berlin in seventh and eighth. Working alongside them in a virtuous exchange of practices and experiences is also Dresden. Together with Zaragoza, in Spain, the German city is a testbed for NEUTRALPATH, a European project partnering with Atelier and aimed at co-designing urban solutions for climate neutrality. As part of the project, Dresden is showing how deep retrofits and district-level planning can reshape entire neighbourhoods, and transforming two pilot sites into so-called Positive Clean Energy Districts (PCEDs): low-carbon, high-efficiency energy zones designed to produce only green energy—and more than they consume. “These sites have not been chosen randomly,” explains Luke Bojčev, Smart City Manager for Dresden. “Both represent typical post-war and socialist-era building stock in Dresden, making the outcomes highly replicable across central and eastern Europe.” So far, the estimated impact is a 55% reduction in primary energy consumption, including both thermal and electrical demand”.
Still, meeting the city’s climate goals requires broad collaboration. “One site involves Vonovia, one of Germany’s largest private housing providers, while WiD, Dresden’s municipal housing company, manages the other. This setup enables smooth project implementation and scaling, bridging public and private housing sectors,” Bojčev adds.
Yet hurdles remain, particularly in integrating PV electricity into district heating systems, and in the technical and financial integration of geothermal and solar energy in low-density areas. These areas, often dependent on limited public funding, are especially critical for social housing.
These very challenges are what NEUTRALPATH is designed to identify. “The goal is to test how to actually implement and operate positive clean energy districts under very different conditions” says Cecilia Sanz Montalvillo, the project coordinator and an energy researcher at the Cartif Foundation in Valladolid. Technology alone won’t cut it. Sophisticated solutions are being paired with educational initiatives to boost awareness and energy literacy, such as a board game developed in Dresden, Istanbul and Zaragoza to teach children where energy comes from and how it’s used. “Then of course we also apply for more innovative solutions due to the specific problems they must solve, but despite being costly, they are always scalable”, Sanz Montalvillo adds.
This pragmatism reflects the NEUTERALPATH project’s broader strategy: helping cities develop replicable, scalable models for PCEDs, not just as technical pilots, but as living labs that integrate governance, community engagement, and long-term financial sustainability. Dresden and Zaragoza are leading the way, with Istanbul (Turkey), Ghent (Belgium), and Vantaa (Finland) set to replicate and adapt their solutions as so-called “follower cities”. In all of them “climate neutral labs” are being set up to bring together a wide range of actors. “Retrofitting companies and energy providers, for example, join these labs together with citizens, governments, and investment representatives,” explains Sanz Montalvillo. “This is because, to implement these kinds of solutions, it’s very important to have good cohesion between all the stakeholders involved in the energy districts.”
The developments are encouraging and the strategy is already bearing fruit, but long-term support is essential to consolidate this experience and accelerate the decarbonisation of European cities. “One of the biggest challenges is the lack of continuity in funding. Cities test something and demonstrate it works, but once the project ends, cities have difficulty in finding tools to scale or replicate”, Sanz Montalvillo says.
Amsterdam shows that effective change depends on long-term planning and cross-sector collaboration. As urban energy systems become more complex, cities move beyond experimentation and focus on building resilient, scalable models. Still, the shift toward zero-emission remains a challenging goal: cities currently account for around three-quarters of global energy consumption and about 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, while occupying just 2-3 % of Earth’s surface. The extent to which cities cause pollution increases as the urban population grows. Between 2024 and 2050 the share of the urban population is projected to grow from 56% today to around 70%, bringing approximately 1.8 billion people more into urban areas. “Projections show that urban land areas are expected to expand by around 1 million km2 by 2050, equivalent to the total land area of Japan, Germany and Italy combined”, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Despite this, only one in five cities has set a target to reach net-zero emissions, according to its 2024 report Empowering Urban Energy Transitions: Smart Cities and Smart Grids. The next step? Turning the best experiments into standard practice, before time runs out.
By Gioia Salvatori
Photo credit: Dresden Municipality
