A delegation from the Cyprus Institute, led by Dr. Konstantinos Kleovoulou, Assistant Vice President of Innovation and Development, participated in the insightful two-day conference organized by the Municipality of Thessaloniki “From Climate Crisis to Climate Neutrality for Urban Resilience” on 13-14 January 2025. The event featured interesting presentations by distinguished speakers and round-table discussions among experts from the Greek central and local government, both the public and private sectors, as well as representatives from European organisations such as the European Investment Bank (EIB). More importantly, the Conference highlighted the participation of the six Greek mission cities (Athens, Ioannina, Kalamata, Kozani, Trikala, Thessaloniki) as well as Limassol in the EU Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, also known as the Cities Mission. The Mission aims to make the participating cities climate neutral and smart by 2030, in areas such as energy, waste management, transport, buildings, etc. with the aim of improving the quality of citizens.

 

The CyI’s delegation joined and actively supported the Mayor of Limassol Mr. Yiannis Armeftis who, alongside other prominent speakers, took the stage and presented the case for Limassol in becoming climate neutral and resilient. In addition, we contributed to the discussions held concerning the establishment of the National Network of Mission Cities of Greece and Cyprus in an effort towards joining forces for accelerating the maturity of large scalable projects, the methodologies, and results of which can be transferred and replicated to other cities. Our presence, participation, and active engagement at the Conference was in the framework of our work as the leading scientific advisor to the city of Limassol, the only Cypriot city selected among these 100 cities, for creating an action plan towards achieving climate neutrality.