ASCEND, alongside a its sister projects, recently published a joint scientific article “Empowering cities through Positive Energy Districts: Strategies and implementations from PED projects of EU climate neutral and smart cities” on the Open Research Eur

Study visit to Vienna

NEUTRALPATH, a sister project of ASCEND, has recently shared a new episode of podcast examining how cities can move from isolated interventions to district-scale strategies that combine clean energy, urban planning and social inclusion.

By Veronika Cerna, CEO of TWNTY Communications, member of ASCEND

Cities are setting ambitious climate and clean energy goals, yet many struggle to translate innovation into large scale deployment. 

By Philippe Fournand, CEO of Blue-Sight Conseil, ASCEND

Europe's cities are increasingly caught between decarbonisation goals, rising capital needs and a renewed imperative for growth, innovation and energy security.

NetZeroCities has officially presented and recognized the cities of Dortmund, Sarajevo, and Elbasan as "Mission Label" cities on February 16, 2026, marking a major expansion of the EU’s climate-neutral network, now totaling 106 cities. 

NEUTRALPATH, a sister project of ASCEND, addresses a critical gap in the European energy transition, specifically the resource disparity between major metropolitan cities and smaller municipalities.

Financial instruments play a decisive role in determining whether Positive Clean Energy Districts remain isolated pilots or become scalable, replicable urban solutions.

The European Commission is supporting deployment of the Positive Energy Districts across Europe through a funding opportunity that is currently available on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal.

Our sister project NEUTRALPATH has launched Energize, a new educational game co-created across the consortium to help citizens explore energy decisions at the neighbourhood level.