Co-Funded Partnership: Driving Urban Transitions to a sustainable future (DUT)

Cities are the home of complex, inter-dependent challenges related to resource depletion, climate change impacts, environmental degradation, water, air and soil pollution, health issues and social exclusion. Although they occupy about 3% of the Earth’s land, they consume over 65% of the world energy, 75% of natural resource and account for more than 70% of the global CO₂ emission. Today, more than 70% of EU citizens live in urban areas and it is expected that more than two thirds of the global population will be living in cities by 2030. Cities are also the engines of the European economy generating about 85% of the EU’s GDP and hubs of technological and social innovation. As such, they are key players in shaping and providing solutions to these challenges and need to urgently engage in unprecedented systemic transformational and bold transition towards sustainability and climate neutrality.

Important gaps in knowledge, evidence, innovation, technology, data, capacit