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Tarek El Azzouzi
NetZeroCities Partnership Manager at Climate-KIC
Tarek El Azzouzi is the NetZeroCities Partnership Manager at Climate-KIC, a position he has held since September 2023.3 In this role, he works on the NetZeroCities project, which is a European platform supporting 112 cities across the continent in their efforts to achieve climate neutrality.3
NetZeroCities is a significant initiative coordinated by EIT Climate-KIC, aiming to engage local authorities and other stakeholders to deliver over 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030.1 The project recognizes the crucial role cities play in addressing climate change, as they are home to 75% of Europeans and responsible for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions.1
As the Partnership Manager, Tarek El Azzouzi likely plays a key role in fostering collaborations and managing relationships between the various stakeholders involved in the NetZeroCities project. This may include working with the 33 partners from 27 European countries that make up the NetZeroCities consortium, as well as engaging with local authorities, businesses, and other relevant organizations.12
Climate-KIC, where Tarek works, is the EU's largest public-private partnership addressing climate change through innovation.2 It has been given a formal mandate to be the EU's climate change innovation agency, tasked with helping build European sustainable jobs, growth, and competitiveness.2
While I don't have specific information about Tarek's background or previous experiences, his role suggests he has expertise in climate action, urban sustainability, and partnership management within the context of European climate initiatives.
Highlights
The visions of the cities of Heidelberg🇩🇪, Leuven🇧🇪, Sofia🇧🇬 and Tallinn🇪🇪, and the Metropolitan Region of Arnhem-Nijmegen 🇳🇱converge: building a #vision for the future to engage leadership, people and get things down is key.
Some takeaways of this inspiring panel during the second day of the Cities Mission Conference in Valencià 🇪🇺🇪🇸 on Mayors for integrated climate action moderated by Rosalinde van der Vlies, Deputy Mission Manager of the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.
"Aligning leadership in your city creates a sense of common goal. It then becomes easier for moving to the next step." says Mohamed Ridouani, Mayor of stad Leuven on the driving force that is Leuven 2030, bringing together multiple stakeholders.
Also, "people don't believe solutions are available. There is a critical need for sharing best practices [to build a credible vision]" as wisely mentioned by Eckart Würzner, Lord Mayor of Heidelberg.
In the Metropolitan Region of Arnhem-Nijmegen, Harriet Tiemens shared how Arnhem2120 was set up to give a projection to a 100 years from now emphasizing the importance of a vision.
In Tallinn, "having a vision helps testing research on the ground and go for it", including innovative finance mechanisms, says Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski.
And lastly that closing sentence by Nadezhda Bobcheva, Deputy Mayor of Sofia to reflect on: "The future is now. So if you need something maybe you're late".
Great way to kick start this day.
#citiesmission #citiesmissionconference #valenciaclimateweek #netzerocities NetZeroCitiesEU
Today, 23 Mission Cities part of the NetZeroCitiesEU programme have been awarded the Cities Mission Label recognizing the ambition set in their Climate City Contract (CCC) that includes an investment plan to finance their action plan to climate neutrality by 2030.
"The Award is a huge opportunity to convince the youngsters to stay in the city, for them, for their families, [as we work to make it more liveable]"
As we can hear from Attila Péterffy Mayor of Pécs, Hungary, in conversation with Cities Mission Manager Patrick Child, the Label represents much more than a validation of their efforts. It sends a strong message of hope to all their citizens and a promise of a greener and smarter future.
Congratulations to all the 23 newly awarded cities joining the 10 former ones, building a coalition of frontrunner cities in Europe.
#CitiesMission #EUMissions #GreenDeal #CitiesMissionLabel #RIDaysEU #NetZeroCities #ClimateNeutrality
