Benefits for cities

The project uses various activities and resources towards supporting and exchanging with cities.

Generally, all cities and their implementation partners are able to

• profit of the ongoing support through the Green Digital Charter contact point, which handles requests for information concerning the Charter, the signatory cities, the project and the planned activities
• take part to the project learning activities: the technical trainings and work shadowing visits
• network at the visibility and outreach oriented events, the green digital roadshows

Signatory cities

Cities that have already signed the Green Digital Charter – the so-called ‘signatory cities’ – receiveprimary support from the project, including:

• Visibility

The “Charter contact point” promotes the signatories’ accomplishments and collaboration using EU-wide mechanisms and media. This is done through the dedicated cities pages on the website and best practice publications and monitoring reports.

The Charter triggers and promotes the collaboration among cities. Moreover, it disseminates all opportunities for cooperation and the development of common projects.

Cities also have the possibility to showcase their green digital activities to other signatories and external stakeholders by offering and organising study tours and hosting one of the three Green Digital Charter roadshows.

• Training activities

The project allocates the reimbursement of travel and accommodation cost for the project learning events which will be organised throughout 2016 and 2017.

• Toolkit

Green Digital Charter signatories have access to the Toolkit that the NiCE project has produced to support the implementation of the Green Digital Charter.

• European Union policy priorities

Green Digital Charter objectives reflect current and future EU policy and is expected to offer a competitive edge in smart city funding:

1. EU framework policies

The Charter supports and contributes to the current EU priorities: the Digital Single Market, the Energy Union and the Juncker investment plan.

2. Smart cities

The Charter is supported by the European Commission as part of the wider “Smart cities” policies and the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities and its Marketplace.

3. “20-20-20” goals & Covenant of Mayors

“ICT for energy efficiency” is a tool to achieve the 20-20-20 targets and offers a message to citizens and businesses. Both the Charter and the Covenant are recognised as mainstream policy initiatives that are linked through energy efficiency in the ICT sector.

4. EU-China cooperation

The Charter is expected to be one of the benchmarks for the selection of cities that will participate in future EU-China cooperation for urbanisation and smart cities.