Thessaloniki

Image from Unsplash by Miltiadis Fragkidis

The Commit2Green Project

 

Commit2Green (C2G) is a Horizon Europe Innovation Action project that supports eight European cities in developing integrated, participatory greening strategies aimed at achieving climate neutrality and urban resilience. The project facilitates a transition from isolated nature-based interventions to systemic, cross-scalar approaches embedded within city planning frameworks.

C2G's vision is to enhance the role of nature in cities by aligning ecosystem service supply with local demand, informed through community engagement and district-level analysis. Demonstrator projects serve as real-world testbeds for co-designed interventions that are scalable, inclusive and context-specific.

By connecting district-scale planning with city-wide strategies, Commit2Green fosters ecological connectivity and institutional change, delivering planning tools, participatory models and policy recommendations that can be transferred across European cities.

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are central to Commit2Green's operational framework. Rather than focusing on isolated green interventions, the project promotes the integration of NbS into urban planning systems at both district and city levels. C2G emphasises the co-design and implementation of NbS that are multifunctional, community-informed and aligned with local policy objectives, delivering measurable outcomes in terms of resilience, biodiversity and well-being.

C2G applies an ecosystem services-based approach to decision-making, focusing on both the supply (existing environmental performance) and the demand (community-identified needs) of ecosystem services. Local vulnerabilities - such as heat risk, limited access to green space or social exclusion - are mapped in collaboration with stakeholders. This evidence-driven process ensures that greening strategies address real-world urban challenges in a spatially and socially targeted manner.

The project promotes the integration of blue-green-grey infrastructure as a means to deliver ecological connectivity and multifunctionality in urban systems. Commit2Green supports design solutions that connect natural elements (green), hydrological systems (blue) and built environments (grey) in cohesive, high-performing networks. These solutions are developed through district-level demonstrators and embedded in broader planning strategies to ensure replicability and long-term impact.