Ukraine towards Carbon Neutrality (U_CAN)

European Green Deal

U_CAN is part of the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme in support of  European Union’s Green Deal.

The European Green Deal, approved in 2020, is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making the European Union climate neutral in 2050.

Project Aim

U_CAN will enable Ukrainian cities to align their strategies and standards with EU climate policies. This transformation would be achieved through a targeted support of the Ukrainian city administrations efforts to collaborate and engage with their European counterparts including the EU Mission Cities.

Expected outcome

Following the successful execution of the project, the participating Ukrainian cities will have well-defined, context-specific climate strategies that effectively foster climate neutrality efforts.

As a result of the facilitated interaction with Mission Cities, the Ukrainian cities will have improved their capacities in the realm of climate mitigation and be able to carry out local-specific plans and activities.

U_CAN is funded under an EU Missions call
As part of the Horizon Europe programme, the EU has launched a Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”.
Learn more about the objectives of the mission.

U_CAN project is actively collaborating with 2 other projects funded under the EU Missions call:​

Accelerating cities’ transition
to net zero emissions
by 2030

Sustainable Urban
Net Zero Network
for Ukrain

Project objectives

• 01. Support Climate Strategy Development – Assist Ukrainian cities in developing context-specific climate strategies for effective climate neutrality
• 02. Identify Key Sectors for Transition – Identify and transition critical sectors, including industrial decarbonization and energy transition, with EU experts
• 03. Facilitate Mission Cities Partnership programme – Connect Ukrainian cities with Mission Cities  to exchange best practices and foster long-term partnerships
• 04. Implement Local Pilot Initiatives – Demonstrate climate-neutral measures through local pilot initiatives, promoting replication and knowledge exchange
• 05. Build Awareness Across Ukraine – Disseminate project results to a wider group of Ukrainian cities, ensuring long-term alignment with the European Green Deal

Pilot Ukrainian Cities

U_CAN supports implementation of pilot activities in six Ukrainian cities to demonstrate climate-neutral city solutions. The use cases envisioned to be developed with support from the Mission Cities will address and explore various avenues to climate neutrality efforts.