When: 7 October 2025 | 9:15 - 11:00 CET
Duration: 1 hr 45 min
Topic:
Currently, urban environments are responsible for nearly 70% of the global carbon footprint, of which the 100 largest emitting cities alone account for around 18% (Moran et al., 2018). Transforming the urban economy sustainably means offering zero-emission alternatives for services, products and production processes that involve GHG emissions. Since municipalities lack the means and capacity to develop and finance innovation on such a large scale, and achieving sustainability in urban settings requires not only significant financial investment but also the active involvement of various local stakeholders, including and the private sector. To meet this challenge, cities need to reform their governance practices and explore new models and approaches to effectively engage small, medium and large businesses in developing and investing in decarbonization projects.
There are multiple ways to involve the private sector, across various types of projects. When crafting an engagement strategy, transition teams must consider two key aspects. First, ensuring that the selected projects contribute meaningfully to the decarbonization of the city’s most carbon-intensive sectors, while also offering viable alternatives to high-emission practices. Second, the strategy must be designed to wisely allocate the municipality's available human and financial resources. This means identifying high-leverage projects—those where a strategic input can deliver significant impact.
Achieving this requires a holistic approach to building a portfolio of projects that, collectively, can drive full urban decarbonization.
By the end of the module participants will be able to:
- Identify the necessary roles and skills within the transition team;
- Develop an effective private sector engagement strategy;
- Design an incentive portfolio;
- Explore various engagement models;
Who is this session for?
This module is designed to support municipal transition teams in developing a strategy for engaging the private sector in urban climate neutrality efforts. "Engagement" in this context refers to the active participation of companies in decarbonization projects—both through investment and implementation.
Supporting Material
- Material 01
- Material 02
- Material 03
Facilitators
Dr. Gabriella Doci is a Senior Scientist at TNO Vector, an applied research institute in the Netherlands. She has over 15 years of experience working on sustainability transitions, with a particular focus on urban transition governance. In recent years, her research has centered on private sector engagement. Before joining TNO, she worked at Viable Cities in Sweden, where she studied how cities can govern the transition to climate neutrality and support learning throughout the process. She is currently a member of the NZC Domain Working Group on Private Sector Engagement and led a case study exploring business perspectives on decarbonization. The insights from this work have been integrated into the course material.
David Brito is an urban planner from New York with over twenty years of experience in economic development, parks and public space, and innovation districts. He has worked in the public and private sectors. David is co-chair of the NetZeroCities working group on Private Sector Engagement. In that capacity he has supported several cities in structuring their strategy and workshops with private sector stakeholders.
Metadel is the Public Finance Innovation Lead and Researcher at Dark Matter Labs, where she supports European cities in their transition to Net Zero by 2030, as part of the European Commission’s Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. Her work focuses on helping cities overcome financial, governance, and systemic barriers to effective climate action. Previously, she worked at the World Economic Forum, where she concentrated on fostering and sustaining public-private collaborations, with an emphasis on urban transformation and the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industries.