{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T20:46:05Z","timestamp":1776804365933,"version":"3.51.2"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"group-title":"SSRN","reference-count":23,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Mission-oriented innovation is increasingly recognised as a framework for addressing complex societal challenges, with growing relevance for urban climate governance through the European Union\u2019s Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. This paper examines how the Mission operationalises urban transformation through Climate City Contracts (CCCs), understood not simply as planning instruments but as governance mechanisms that make climate neutrality actionable and institutionally governable. It draws on a qualitative comparative analysis of eight European cities, Aachen, Bologna, Bucharest, Madrid, Paris, Porto, Stockholm, and Valladolid, to analyse how climate neutrality pathways are shaped through governance arrangements, sectoral integration, citizen engagement, and multi-level coordination.,The findings show that CCCs function as cross-sectoral governance instruments that align energy, mobility, buildings, circularity, finance, and participation around a shared transition objective. The cases reveal differentiated yet convergent pathways of implementation, including territorial integration, institutional innovation, deep system integration, co-created participation, civic mobilisation, capacity building, policy acceleration, and ecosystem coordination. Across these pathways, a consistent pattern emerges: CCCs help make climate neutrality governable by connecting fragmented domains of action, structuring collective direction, and linking local ambition to broader institutional and financial conditions.,The paper contributes to research on urban sustainability transitions and mission-oriented governance by demonstrating how directionality, coordination, and legitimacy are translated into practice through an urban governance instrument. It argues that the CCC is significant not because it standardises local action, but because it enables cities to organise systemic change across sectors, actors, and scales.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.6623526","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T19:48:38Z","timestamp":1776800918000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Governing Climate Neutrality through Climate City Contracts: Insights from Eight European Cities"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1357-9966","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Paulo  Cadete","family":"Ferr\u00e3o","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"78","reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gloenvcha.2014.01.009","article-title":"Contesting climate justice in the city: Examining politics and practice in urban climate change experiments","volume":"25","author":"H Bulkeley","year":"2014","journal-title":"Global Environmental Change"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.erss.2025.104468","article-title":"Optimism and pragmatism in mission cities: Exploring narratives for climate neutrality in Stockholm and Amsterdam","volume":"131","author":"J Chakravarty","year":"2026","journal-title":"Energy Research & Social Science"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"580","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trpro.2023.11.442","article-title":"Urban transport in the EU Mission on Climate Neutral and Smart Cities: Preliminary data from applicants' expressions of interest","volume":"72","author":"P Christidis","year":"2023","journal-title":"Transportation Research Procedia"},{"issue":"20","key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6283","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1315545112","article-title":"Global typology of urban energy use and potentials for an urbanization mitigation wedge","volume":"112","author":"F Creutzig","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3390\/environments10020014","article-title":"Urban Metabolism Characterization from the National to the Regional Scale: A Case Study of Lisbon","volume":"10","author":"S Cunha","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environments"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3389\/frsc.2025.1559356","article-title":"Urban transition governance in practice: exploring how European cities govern local transitions to achieve climate neutrality","volume":"7","author":"G Doci","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. 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