Climate neutral and smart cities: Towards the energy transition

The goal of achieving global climate neutrality, as outlined by the Conference of Parties and the EU Green Deal, focuses on urban areas and their energy dynamics. Despite efforts, the reliance on fossil fuels highlights the need for a practical transition to diverse energy sources. This includes improving power plant efficiency and integrating renewables like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Electrifying sectors, diversifying energy sources, deploy storage systems and are crucial to reducing dependency. Research on nuclear energy and hydrogen, is essential too. Europe aims to support 100 cities in achieving climate neutrality by 2030, using innovation, financial tools, and “Climate City Contracts” (CCC) to guide the process. Within this context, renewable energy communities could contribute up to 20% of urban energy by 2030, emphasizing the need for advanced electricity systems/smart grids.