Towards (net) zero emissions in the stationary energy sector: A city perspective

•Stationary energy is a critical sector in pursuing emission-free urban futures.•A novel dataset is analysed on how 362 cities address Scope 1 and 2 emissions.•Digital solutions, behavioural changes, and efficiency/renewables are priorities.•District/community-level interventions stand as important levers of change.•Gaps in current policy-making are likely to remain unaddressed in the future. Cities are loci of intense consumption of energy and resources and thus hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions with global environmental impacts. While increasingly recognised as a crucial part of the solution, little is known on what cities are concretely setting up and achieving in the context of climate mitigation. In this paper, we examine the roadmap of 362 ambitious cities that expressed their interest in the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission of the European Commission. We focus on the role of the built environment as a source of emissions and even more as a multiplier of positive impacts and opportunities. We analyse i) the contribution to the overall Scope 1 and 2 emissions, ii) current policies and policy instruments in the stationary energy domain as compared to those cities will deploy to become climate neutral by 2030, and iii) current key measures against interventions that could scale up in the future. The insights gathered through this study can inform scientists on key technical and technological gaps, inspire other cities on the journey to (net) zero emissions, and support policymakers, practitioners, and the public in the creation of an enabling environment for climate-neutral strategies and technologies in the urban domain.