As the EU shifts focus from the Green Deal to clean industry, ICLEI Europe is ensuring cities are recognised as key implementation actors of EU policy. Local governments influence industry through regulations while driving EU priorities like climate action and digital innovation. Their demand for clean materials can encourage the industry to invest in sustainable production, aligning economic, social, and environmental goals.

Through recent pan-European and national City-Industry Dialogues in Madrid, Aalborg, Brussels, Vilnius and Łódź, ICLEI members such as Amsterdam, Malmö, Mannheim, Pescara, Roma, Tampere, Zagreb, and Zaragoza made one thing clear: city-business collaboration at the local level is essential for Europe’s clean industrial transition.

In those dialogues, city leaders and businesses called for co-created industrial transformation plans underpinned by trust. Businesses asked for clearer procurement criteria, while cities highlighted their purchasing power. Cities like Malmö, which spent €100 billion on housing and infrastructure, are already showing how procurement standards can ensure replication of sustainable solutions. From reusing building materials in Helsinki, to data-informed climate planning in Malmö, to circular procurement pilots in Gabrovo, cities are demonstrating their role as market-shaping institutions.  

The City-Industry Dialogues confirmed the need for governance structures that allow cities and businesses to speak the same language, co-design policies, and implement solutions quicker. Through the Intelligent Cities Challenge, ICLEI Europe has supported 67 European cities in the development of over 200 Local Green Deals that addressed clean tech deployment in the energy, mobility, and water sector, as well as in circular systems. 75% of these deals show high replication potential, and the key role of cities in influencing demand for clean technologies, creating local jobs, and cutting emissions. Local Green Deals are not just policy instruments but tangible governance frameworks through which cities enable clean industrial transformation.  

To learn more about ICLEI Europe’s Local Green Deals narrative, check out our latest position paper here. Read about ICLEI Europe’s position on the role of cities and regions in the EU competitiveness agenda here.

These outcomes emerged from three recent high-level dialogues:

• the ICC Mayors–Business Forum in Brussels (6 March), where 88 cities, including 14 ICLEI members such as Mannheim, Amsterdam, and Pescara, engaged with 400+ SMEs and industry leaders;
• the City-Industry Dialogue in Vilnius (7 May), which brought together cities like Zaragoza, Malmö, Zagreb, Tampere, and Roma with European Commission officials and corporate CEOs
• the national City–Industry Dialogue in Lodz (20 May), where cities such as Warsaw and Wroclaw exchanged with companies like Skanska and CEMEX on aligning industrial and municipal transition plans.