What Cities Want to Measure: Bottom-Up Selection of Indicators for Systemic Change toward Climate Neutrality Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 40 European Cities

Abstract

Cities are taking action to respond to climate change by designing and implementing sustainable solutions which provide benefits and challenges to citizens. Measuring the progress and effects of such actions at the urban level, beyond mere greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions quantification, is still an emerging research area. Based on data from the 40 European cities belonging to 20 pilot city programmes within the EU-funded NetZeroCities (NZC) project, cities’ selections and preferences for indicators for assessing their climate actions are analysed in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study provides bottom-up evidence of cities’ selection of non-GHG indicators through different levers of change, including participatory governance and social innovation, for assessing progress and the co-benefits of actions toward climate neutrality taken at the urban level. The resulting list of indicators, classified according to the SDGs, provides evidence of cities’ priorities and can be utilised by cities’ climate transition teams and also by researchers, as it highlights gaps and opportunities compared to extant literature.