In June, 2026, NetZeroCities published a draft list of challenge areas as part of its work to reorganise and strengthen city support. This draft list introduced the core themes of each area, exploring the urgency for action, the diagnosed blockers preventing progress and the demand signals from Mission Cities. The full draft longlist remains available here: Challenges – priorities for Mission Cities.
This document, Challenge Impact Pathways, complements the initial circulation of resources on the challenge areas. They outline potential short to mid-term outcomes to achieve long-term systemic transformation. Each of the identified impact pathways include the starting point, desired outcomes and impacts to be achieved long-term as well as the relevant levers and enabling conditions that could help catalyse change. Cities with different capabilities can use the impact pathways to navigate and explore where progress might best be achieved in their local contexts.