ICLEI Europe’s governance innovation work focuses, among other priorities, on driving city-business collaborations for accelerated decarbonisation and economic growth. To do this, we guide local governments in the use of Local Green Deals and Climate City Contracts. Through them, local governments and businesses co-create strategies that bring EU priorities to life, from climate neutrality to industrial transformation. By aligning investment, innovation and collaboration, these governance innovations connect climate action with competitiveness and ensure local economies benefit from change. The Governance Innovation team is leading ICLEI Europe’s work on Local Green Deals and supporting the one on Climate City Contracts, led by the Climate-Neutral Cities Task Group. 

From EU policy to Local Green Deals

EU policy frameworks like the European Green Deal and the Clean Industrial Deal reflect the need for a fundamental transformation towards a climate neutral and competitive Europe. To be successful, these policy frameworks need to resonate throughout societies across all Member States, create shared ownership for action among stakeholders, and a positive narrative of how (well) Europeans will live in 20-30 years. 

Standard approaches to policy implementation are not sufficient to achieve the aspired change. The European Green Deal and the Clean Industrial Deal have to link up diverse policy domains, as well as different levels of governance. It also needs collaborative action from different stakeholders (i.e. government, private sector, civil society) – allowing for a more integrated strategy and for better and more effectively coordinated action on the ground. In an increasingly competitive EU, it is crucial that local governments are recognized as strategic partners for the private sector to decarbonize while growing sustainably. 

Ultimately, European territories are the place where EU policy is translated into local action. As the governance level closest to citizens, local governments are responsible to ensure that actions are taken to promote environmental, social and economic sustainability as a mindset, as an organisational principle, and as a business case. It is for this reason that the success of the European Green Deal hinges on the creation of Local Green Deals. To date, ICLEI Europe has supported 80+ local governments in the development of Local Green Deals to expedite the green and digital transitions. Through Local Green Deals, ICLEI members like Aalborg, Mannheim, Zaragoza and Pescara have developed city-business collaboration agreements to accelerate the implementation of their climate neutrality and adaptation strategies. 

Local Green Deals beyond Business

Local Green Deal agreements have been mostly piloted as accelerators of city-business collaboration in cities across the EU, through the Intelligent Cities Challenge. However, as a collaborative governance framework, the methodology supports the mobilisation of all key urban stakeholders that shall and can support systemic transformation in cities, from private households to civil society organizations, academia, as well as other levels of public administration. Through projects like TiCCA4Danu and FairFuture, for example, Local Green Deals are used by city administrations as frameworks for the engagement of regional governments or marginalised groups respectively, to accelerate the implementation of climate adaptation actions. 

ICLEI Europe’s campaign for Local Green Deals

The Mannheim Message adopted at the 9th European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns in autumn 2020 was the launch of ICLEI Europe’s campaign for Local Green Deals (LGDs). It called on local governments to develop LGDs as the nucleus of a collaborative implementation process for the European Green Deal. 

For ICLEI Europe, Local Green Deals (LGDs) are a governance and action orientated approach to accelerate and scale-up a city’s sustainable transformation. It builds on and aims to join up a city’s existing strategies, legislation, market and financial incentives into a coherent approach to advance the EU green transition policy framework (currently European Green Deal and Clean Industrial Deal) locally. A key part of the approach is implementing action agreements (i.e. deals) between local stakeholders that need to achieve the integrated sustainability goals set by the local government. 

Localising EU policy through city-business collaboration and multilevel governance 

Local Green Deals (LGDs) are forward looking governance innovation with integrated management and collaborative governance at their core. They are an instrument designed to support Europe's transition priorities under the Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal, and EU Agenda for Cities, including demand aggregation, job creation, innovation, and resilience. Non-regulatory instruments like Local Green Deals and Climate City Contracts encourage co-creation, place-based innovation, policy and stakeholder alignment, as well as shared governance.

• Local Green Deals: integrate city strategies, policies, and incentives to accelerate sustainable transitions. By mobilising local stakeholders, they support EGD goals, foster resilient urban economies, and help cities achieve EU targets for climate neutrality, resource efficiency, and social inclusion.
• Climate City Contracts: align local, regional, and national stakeholders around climate-neutrality strategies. Through knowledge-sharing and capacity-building, they enable cities to meet ambitious climate goals by 2030, using collaborative, shared governance. 

The information included in these agreements, from sectoral decarbonization actions to the related investment needs, represent a significant business opportunity for EU industry and businesses to accelerate their clean growth. To facilitate this process, since 2025, ICLEI Europe together with Climate-KIC and WBCSD is organising City-Industry Dialogues in EU member states, for city and industry representatives to discuss the creation of lead markets for climate neutrality.

Check out ICLEI Europe’s Competitiveness Paper

Intelligent Cities Challenge

During the second phase of the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC), ICLEI Europe supported ~70 local governments in the development of 200+ Local Green Deal action agreements. For ICC, ICLEI Europe has led the contribution on LGDs and has authored the ICC LGD Blueprint for Action. The blueprint is the first and only guide for LGDs. ICLEI Europe has also led on the training of ICC core cities to develop their first set of LGDs.

Check out the ICC LGD Blueprint for Action     Take an online course on LGDs on EU Academy

100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 Mission

In light of ICLEI Europe’s work in the 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 Mission, ICLEI Europe published a position paper to clarify the similarities and distinctions between Local Green Deals and the Climate City Contracts: "From talk to transformation: local governance innovation driving Europe’s green and competitive future". Cities like Cork, Kalamata, and Zaragoza, are using Local Green Deal action agreements to implement the action portfolio of their Climate City Contracts.

Check out our latest Position Paper

Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change

Local Green Deals are currently being piloted as an action accelerator mechanism for local and regional governments to make meaningful progress in the implementation of their resilience strategies and action plans. Through projects like TiCCA4Danu and FairFuture, Local Green Deals are being used as a governance mechanism to build collaborative ownership and escalate resilience action from the regional to the local level, as well as to accelerate and institutionalise the implementation of experimental action for inclusive climate adaptation.

Related Initiatives

In parallel to ICLEI Europe’s LGDs campaign, the European Committee of the Regions has been promoting the local implementation of the Europeans Green Deal via its "Green Deal Going Local" campaign.

Check out the "Green Deal Going Local" campaign

The Sustainable and Innovation Procurement team picked up the Local Green Deal work of a city they are collaborating with and put further attention to it, moving the LGDs work beyond the Governance Innovation team. 

The case study features the experience from Las Rozas de Madrid in procuring the maintenance and conservation services for infrastructure, and includes important references to their Local Green Deal. The case study has been published in the Green Public Procurement Helpdesk managed by the Sustainable and Innovation Procurement on behalf of DG ENV.

Check out Las Rozas de Madrid’s case study