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Good practice Imported

SUN4Ukraine — Twinning Ukrainian Cities with EU Climate-Neutral Mission Cities

Ukraine · Chernihiv · See the Ukraine profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A €4.99M Horizon Europe programme coordinated by Eurocities pairs 12 Ukrainian 'Flagship Municipalities' with EU Climate-Neutral Mission Cities for structured climate-action mentorship, with 14 city partnerships announced by October 2025.

4,999,605 EUR
EU contribution (Horizon Europe) (2024-2028)
105 municipalities
Ukrainian municipalities expressing interest
33 applications
Formal applications received
12 municipalities
Flagship Municipalities selected
14 partnerships
City partnerships announced (by October 2025)
SUN4Ukraine — Twinning Ukrainian Cities with EU Climate-Neutral Mission Cities

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Eurocities (consortium coordinator)
Period
2024–2028
Keywords
urban climate action, city twinning, municipal knowledge transfer, EU Mission Cities

Context

SUN4Ukraine (Sustainable Urban Net Zero Network for Ukraine) is a Horizon Europe-funded programme (2024-2028) coordinated by Eurocities with 13 partners, including Energy Cities, CEMR, ARUP, the Kyiv School of Economics and the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

Objectives

The programme pairs Ukrainian 'Flagship Municipalities' with EU Climate-Neutral Mission Cities for structured climate-action mentorship, aiming to build local capacity for climate-neutral urban planning despite the war.

Activities

From 105 Ukrainian municipalities that expressed interest and 33 formal applications, 12 Flagship Municipalities (including Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia) were selected to follow a three-track model of Foundation training, Partnership/Twinning mentorship with EU Mission Cities such as Munich and Oslo, and Replication to scale lessons to other Ukrainian cities.

Results

By October 2025 the consortium had announced 14 city partnerships, and the first partnership workshop was held in Munich in November 2025.

Conclusions

The programme is too recent for outcome data: no Climate Neutrality Plans have yet been reported as completed or adopted, and no independent, non-consortium evaluation exists given its recency.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — €4,999,605 in Horizon Europe funding across the 2024-2028 grant period.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Runs 2024-2028 via a three-track Foundation, Partnership/Twinning, then Replication model; first partnerships announced by October 2025, first workshop held November 2025.
Staffing & skills
Coordinated by Eurocities, 13 partners including Energy Cities, CEMR, ARUP, the Kyiv School of Economics and the Association of Ukrainian Cities

Conditions for success

  • Structured twinning/mentorship with an established EU Climate-Neutral Mission City
  • Competitive selection process (105 interested, 33 applied, 12 selected) to focus resources on committed municipalities

Common failure modes

  • Too early to assess: no Climate Neutrality Plans completed or adopted as of the programme's current stage
  • Continuity beyond the 2028 EU funding period is not yet demonstrated

Where it fits

Governance type
multi-city network / EU-funded municipal twinning
Scale
national (12 flagship municipalities plus wider replication)
Income level
middle-income, war-affected

Commonly funded by

Horizon Europe

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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