ICOS Cities PAUL will support cities in climate actions and decisions

14 December 2021
ICOS Cities kick-off in Paris

Cities are important emission hotspots and play a big role in emission reduction efforts. Therefore, observing and verifying greenhouse gas emissions from densely populated urban areas is crucial.

One of the objectives of the ICOS Cities project (Pilot Applications in Urban Landscapes) is to help cities execute their climate action goals by providing data on fossil fuel emissions from urban areas. The city of Paris is one of the project’s three pilot cities together with Munich and Zurich – all representing different sizes of urban areas.

The project kick-off was recently held in Paris, bringing t
ogether more than 100 attendees live and online. The Deputy Mayor of the city of Paris, Dan Lert, is excited for Paris to be part of the project:

In recent years, extreme weather, floods, droughts, heat waves, pollution peaks have proven to be a serious strain in our city. These events have clearly shown us that the climate emergency does not only concern future generations - we are already affected here in Paris as well as all territories across the world. We cannot wait for years to know if implemented climate policies are effective, we need that information now. That is why we are delighted to be part of the PAUL ICOS Cities project, that will give us that data for making decisions and taking actions.”

Pan-European city network with 12 cities

The project will develop and evaluate new concepts for observing cities’ greenhouse gas emissions. The aim is to provide unique data sets feeding diverse models and scientific studies, while testing the feasibility of different modelling approaches in various areas. The project brings together over 100 top scientists from different fields of science, representing 30 European universities and research organisations.

“Looking around the room, I can guarantee the scientific excellence is here and we are more than eager to put our assembled expertise in to serving the needs of the society”, said Werner Kutsch, the coordinator of the project and Director General at ICOS ERIC, at the kick-off.

To increase the impact and to make sure the concept developed will fit for multiple types of cities in various countries and landscapes, also 12 other cities: Helsinki, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Krakow, Brno, Heidelberg, Basel, Porto, Barcelona, Rome and Athens are joining the city network.

”The city network and its experts will allow the project to define and design fit-for-purpose services for cities, helping in their aims to reduce fossil fuel emissions and other climate actions,” Kutsch concludes.

ICOS Cities project website page
Work package presentations WP1-WP6 (PDF)