The Sustainable Urban Net Zero Network for Ukraine – SUN4Ukraine

Demos Helsinki is one of the partners in the Sustainable Urban Net Zero Network for Ukraine (SUN4Ukraine). Launched in May 2024 under the EU Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and funded under Horizon Europe, the project supports Ukrainian municipalities to develop Climate Neutrality Plans and integrate them into their recovery strategies. Together with leading EU and Ukrainian partners, including city networks, research organisations and urban stakeholders, Demos Helsinki supports this project by providing arenas for sharing knowledge and testing new methods for engaging citizens and other stakeholders in these processes.

12 Ukrainian Flagship Municipalities have been chosen to pilot the journey of transformative re-building: Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kalush, Kharkiv, Konotop, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Novovolynsk, Pervomaisk, Vinnytsia and Zviahel. SUN4Ukraine will work together with these municipalities and support them in setting achievable climate goals, identifying funding options, and fostering structured policy dialogue across multiple levels of governance. Specifically, this means:

• Providing technical support and expertise to Ukrainian cities through a capacity building programme.
• Fostering collaboration and learning with Mission Cities to share best practices and innovative solutions for a successful climate transition.
• Promoting sustainable urban planning, citizen and stakeholder engagement, and effective governance models to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

Within this, Demos Helsinki’s role specifically focuses on developing governance and engagement support. This includes

• Having designed and conducted engagement to assess governance and engagement strengths, gaps, and ambitions
• Developing a contextualised toolkit to help Ukrainian cities build strategies on governance, citizen and stakeholder engagement.
• Delivering capacity building related to governance, engagement, and systemic innovation, including connected to the approaches within the wider EU Cities Mission
• Contributing to multi-level policy dialogues on best practices for a just transition

As a partner in NetZeroCities (the platform facilitating the work of the EU Cities Mission), Demos Helsinki contributes to connecting approaches and opportunities to share learning both to and from Ukrainian Cities and those in wider Europe. 

SUN4Ukraine will invite all Ukrainian municipalities that have applied to partake in this project to join the Ukrainian Cities Climate Hub. The goal is to exchange ideas, share knowledge and promote best practices for Ukraine’s recovery and sustainability. In this way, SUN4Ukraine supports Ukraine’s climate transition and contributes to Europe’s broader ambition of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

The project will conclude in April 2028.

For more information, please contact:
Lilybell Evergreen