A recent session of the SUN4Ukraine Capacity Building Programme brought together three Ukrainian Flagship Municipalities, Dnipro, Chernivtsi and Vinnytsia, with the EU cities of Brașov and Oslo for an in-depth exchange on climate governance.
The session highlighted a central message: achieving climate neutrality is not only about setting ambitious targets. It requires strong governance structures, shared ownership across city administrations, and systems that can ensure continuity over time.
Learning from Brașov: building governance through collaboration
Brașov shared how its climate governance model has developed gradually through collaboration and trust across municipal departments and local stakeholders.
A key role is played by the city’s local energy management agency, ABMEE, which helps coordinate climate action across institutions. Through initiatives such as the Cities of Tomorrow project, the city has worked to:
- Map local resources and technical skills
- Pool expertise across stakeholders
- Assess realistic climate neutrality targets
- Design and evaluate strategic projects
One important lesson emerged from Brașov’s experience: political commitment is vital, but strong technical teams are what ensure continuity. Solid analysis, peer learning and institutional ownership allow climate strategies to remain stable even when political leadership changes.
Oslo’s climate budget: embedding climate into decision-making
Oslo demonstrated how governance innovation can drive systemic change by placing climate action at the heart of municipal decision-making.
For many years, climate discussions focused on sacrifices and trade-offs. Oslo changed this narrative by introducing a climate budget, integrating climate action directly into the city’s financial planning and governance processes.
The climate budget:
- Is fully integrated into the municipal budget
- Aligns with all climate targets adopted by the city
- Assigns responsibilities across departments
- Specifies actions, timelines and costs
- Identifies remaining gaps that policymakers must address
This approach has helped drive significant progress, particularly in the transport sector, once the city’s largest source of emissions. Despite strong population growth, road traffic has remained stable thanks to strategic policy decisions.
The message shared with cities starting their climate transition was simple: start building the system, assign responsibilities, and refine it over time.
Ukrainian Flagship Municipalities advancing climate governance despite war
The exchange also highlighted the determination of Ukrainian municipalities to continue advancing climate action even under the challenging conditions of war and reconstruction.
In Dnipro, collaboration between the municipality and its local energy agency has already delivered measurable results:
- Reduce energy consumption in public facilities by 30%, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
- Modernise city lighting with LEDs, supported by the European Investment Bank
- Coordinate strategy and grants with academia and civil society
In Chernivtsi, the transition team is building a broad governance coalition, engaging water management authorities, air quality units, businesses, universities and multiple departments within the city administration.
Meanwhile in Vinnytsia, the Local Green Deal for Vinnytsia has been integrated into internal policies and reviewed by the city’s executive committee, ensuring that climate action is structurally embedded in municipal decision-making.
Strengthening capacity through city-to-city learning
This exchange is part of the SUN4Ukraine Capacity Building Programme, which supports Ukrainian Flagship Municipalities in developing Climate Neutrality Plans while navigating the complex realities of war and reconstruction.
Through practical training sessions, expert support and peer learning with EU cities, the programme helps municipal teams translate knowledge into concrete strategies, governance structures and investment-ready climate projects.
Across all participating cities, one conclusion stood out clearly:
Effective climate governance is about building systems that connect people, departments and institutions, systems that are capable of withstanding political, economic and societal change.