Kifissia Joins EU’s SPARCs Project for Carbon-free Communities  

Kifissia, Athens. Phtoto Source: Visit Greece / H. Kakarouhas

The northern Athens suburb of Kifissia is among seven EU cities that will seek out ways to bring public and private interest together toward finding viable solutions for the transition to a citizen-centred zero-carbon and resource-efficient economy.

Kifissia joined a network of cities – Leipzig (Germany), Espoo (Finland), Reykjavik (Iceland), Maya (Portugal), Kladno (Czech Republic) and Lviv (Ukrain) – under the EU’s Sustainable energy Positive & zero cARbon Communities (SPARCs) program, which – under the shared bold City Vision 2050 – with focus on digitalization, sustainable energy, improved air quality, electro-mobility solutions, and a framework for performance monitoring of the developed solutions.

Funded by the European Commission, SPARCs kicked off on October 1 and will run for five years. The aim of the project is to contribute to economic growth, improve the quality of city life, and meet EC policy environmental goals for climate and energy while placing citizens at the centre of the decision-making process.

Photo source: European Commission

“There is an urgent need to create a model municipal and urban environment that can support human activities without burdening the environment,” adds Kifissia Mayor Georgios Thomakos.

” Kifissia will be involved in any action that has this as a goal. We want our city to be an example of mild growth that creates the right conditions for sustainable living,” he added.

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and part of the Fostering European Smart Cities and Communities agenda, SPARCS brings together citizens, companies, research organizations, city planning and decision-making entities, transforming cities to carbon-free inclusive communities.

“By enabling, informing and supporting efficient urban transformation in the Lighthouse Cities, we anticipate that the SPARCs project will have a major positive impact on driving forward the sustainable energy and zero-carbon agenda, and generate targeted and effective solutions that can be replicated across and beyond Europe,” said Project Coordinator Francesco Reda.