From Mission to Action: How Košice is turning European climate ambitions into local change
Author: Katalin Bunyevacz
How can a mid-sized European city turn ambitious climate targets into concrete action? Košice’s experience shows that the answer lies not in a single funding instrument or project, but in the combination of a clear long-term vision, European support and the capacity of the city administration to turn opportunities into action.
On 23–24 September 2026, Mišo Hudák, urban strategist from Strategic Development Department at the City of Košice, shared the city’s experience at the European Urban Initiative (EUI) capacity-building event organised for the Netherlands in Utrecht.
The event explored how a mission-oriented approach can provide a useful framework for structuring and clarifying the thematic priorities of Cohesion Policy, while strengthening its focus on achieving tangible results. At the same time, participants discussed how Cohesion Policy can strengthen the mission-oriented approach by bringing a stronger territorial perspective and place-based implementation.
For Košice, this discussion was highly relevant. The city has been part of the EU Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities since 2022 and is working to translate its climate ambitions into concrete investments and actions.
At the Dutch EUI event, Košice was presented as a practical example of how mission-oriented approaches and European funding can reinforce each other. The city’s experience demonstrates that long-term transformation is built through a combination of strategic direction, access to funding, innovative projects and—perhaps most importantly—the capacity of local administrations to make these elements work together.
From European funding to local transformation
Košice has a long-standing experience of using European funding to support urban transformation. Following its designation as European Capital of Culture in 2013, and through the Košice 2.0 Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) project, the city invested in the renovation and repurposing of underused assets, recreational and professional sports infrastructure, public spaces and public transport infrastructure.
These investments were complemented by informal education programmes, participatory planning activities, community centres and the creation of new public spaces. Together, they demonstrate how European funding can contribute not only to individual projects, but also to broader changes in the way a city develops and uses its assets.
Today, the city is building on this experience through the EUI Innovative Action project SAM-SUD – Smart Asset Management for Sustainable Urban Development.
Turning public assets into part of the climate solution
Košice, as municipality, owns nearly 900 out of 2,500 public buildings (rest is owned by other levels of regional and state administrative), approximately 10% of which are vacant or underused. At the same time, the city is experiencing significant economic growth, including Volvo’s major investment and the expected creation of thousands of new jobs. This growth is increasing pressure on existing infrastructure and creating new demands for public services and facilities.
Many public buildings are also energy inefficient and contribute significantly to the city’s carbon footprint. Buildings account for approximately 40% of the city’s total energy consumption, excluding heavy industry.
This makes the management and transformation of public assets an important part of Košice’s pathway towards climate neutrality. New Department of energies was introduced within municipal administrative structure in 2024 as a result of Net Zero Cities project Building Power. Main aim of the project was to establish and create new systemic approach for efficient energy management, but also to investigate energy poverty issues in the city and create environment to develop new tools to address and solve those issues.
From 2023 to 2025 Košice was part of Action Planning Network – Cities for Sustainability Governance – within URBACT. During this project, city of Košice developed and delivered Climate City Contract for European Comission and created Strategy for sustainable education. Both documents are road-maps towards sustainable urban development, and especially Strategy for sustainable education is foreseeing challenges in usage of school buildings in next decades, as forecast of major shift in structure of demography of Košice shows radical decline of pupils and students and children in general.
SAM-SUD is evolving those actions from Building Power project and also from URBACT network by helping the city make better-informed decisions about its public assets, identify opportunities for their sustainable use and connect asset management with wider urban development and climate objectives.
In this sense, the project illustrates how the EU Mission can move from an overarching ambition to a practical question faced by city administrations every day: How can we make better use of the buildings and assets we already own while preparing the city for a climate-neutral future?
Funding is important—but capacity makes it work
One of the key lessons from Košice’s experience is that funding alone is not enough.
European funding provides opportunities, but cities need the expertise and organisational capacity to identify opportunities, develop projects, coordinate stakeholders, manage funding instruments and translate strategic objectives into concrete investments.
For Košice, this capacity has been built progressively through years of implementing European projects and participating in European networks and initiatives. Each project has contributed not only physical investments or new services, but also knowledge, partnerships and experience within the city administration.
The combination of European strategic frameworks, funding opportunities, innovative projects and growing administrative capacity creates the conditions for longer-term transformation.
A mid-sized city perspective
Košice’s experience also highlights the particular role of mid-sized cities in achieving European climate objectives.
Mid-sized cities face many of the same challenges as larger cities, but often have different institutional capacities, financial resources and development pressures. Their experiences can therefore provide valuable lessons for other cities operating at a similar scale.
Košice’s participation in the EU Mission has reinforced the importance of bringing this perspective into European discussions. This is also one of the reasons why Košice joined Cities in Transition Europe (CITE), a network representing the voice and interests of Europe’s mid-sized cities and promoting stronger recognition of their role in the green and sustainable transition.
From exchange to cooperation
Košice’s experience attracted considerable interest from the Dutch cities participating in the Utrecht event. The exchange provided an opportunity to compare different approaches to the EU Mission and to identify common challenges, particularly among mid-sized cities.
The discussions also revealed opportunities for continued cooperation between Košice and Dutch cities—both through the CITE network and through the exchange of knowledge and practical experience developed through projects such as SAM-SUD.
The message from Košice is therefore straightforward: making the EU Mission: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities possible is not about one project, one funding programme or one policy instrument. It is about holistic approach to software and hardware of the municipal body at the same time — and ensuring that cities have the capacity to turn them into lasting change.
This project is co-financed by the European Union.