Gathering around 500 participants, the event will focus on delivering and financing climate-neutral cities through high-level dialogue, practical exchanges and mobile workshops, showcasing urban projects and investment solutions across Europe.
Building on momentum from previous editions, the Cities Mission Conference 2026 prioritises practical support, stronger collaboration, and the enabling conditions cities need for systemic change. Positioned between the first implementation of results and the acceleration phase towards 2030, the conference will help set the stage for sustained climate action towards and beyond 2030.
The event is invitation only but a livestream will be available to follow online.
- sustainable mobility | urban planning | urban transport | transport research | adaptation to climate change
- Wednesday 27 May 2026, 13:00 - Friday 29 May 2026, 14:30 (CEST)
- Turin, Italy
Practical information
- When
- Wednesday 27 May 2026, 13:00 - Friday 29 May 2026, 14:30 (CEST)
- Where
- OGR TurinCorso Castelfidardo 22, 10138 Turin, Italy
- Languages
- English
- Website
- Cities Mission Conference 2026 official website
Description
This edition comes at a particularly exciting moment, as we collectively move from planning to delivery, with a working title centred on "From Plans to Impact: Delivering and Financing Europe’s Climate-Neutral Cities".
Across the programme, the event will shine a spotlight on how cities are translating their Climate City Contracts into tangible projects, with a strong emphasis on implementation, funding and financing, and investment readiness. We will also bring in perspectives from well-established national platforms, including for example from Sweden, Spain and Romania, to show how coordinated national support can accelerate the development and scaling of urban investment pipelines.
Several sessions will offer concrete links with broader Commission priorities and provide highly practical, hands-on exchanges. A dedicated workshop of the Affordable Housing Taskforce will look at innovative approaches to upgrading and expanding affordable, climate-resilient housing. In addition, a European Innovation Council session on innovative procurement will illustrate how pre-commercial and innovation procurement can help cities test, adopt and deploy European solutions more rapidly.
The structure of the conference is designed to support meaningful interaction. On 27 May, participants will take part in mobile workshops across Turin, an opportunity to visit real sites, observe solutions in practice and exchange directly with local project teams. 28 May will serve as the main political day, bringing together Mayors, Member States and EU representatives, while 29 May will be devoted to technical and practitioner-focused discussions. Throughout, we intend to move beyond traditional panels towards a more interactive, operational format, enabling deeper conversations on practical implementation challenges, governance solutions and opportunities for scale-up.
