Accelerating Climate Neutrality in Greece

Last week BwB joined representatives of Greek Mission and Mission-minded Cities in Athens for the National Climate Neutrality Event 2025, organised by NetZeroCitiesEU. The event provided a focused setting for cities to exchange updates and ideas, reflect on challenges, and discuss practical, real-world solutions. George Ioulianos, BwB Vice President and City Finance Specialist for Greek and Cypriot cities, co-organised the session ‘Financing the Transition – Unlocking Investment for Climate-Neutral Cities’. The session included:  A presentation of the Better Funding Dialogues initiative, which helps cities turn ambition into bankable projects, by ICLEI Europe's Naomi Odigbo.   Discussion of financing tools that de-risk and attract private capital.    A focused look at Kalamata’s successful energy performance contract (EPC) for street lighting - a model for scalable impact.   Roundtable discussions on current financing challenges, potential pathways and structures to unlock more private investment, and promoting greater public-private collaboration on advancing climate initiatives. Across the event, common themes raised by cities included the need for national coordination, policy updates, innovative procurement, and smarter use of private capital to accelerate the journey to climate neutrality. As George shared: “The event was another opportunity for the Greek government and cities to express their collective political will to work towards climate neutrality. We are working closely with all stakeholders to transform this will into practical engagement and action to achieve the ambitious 2030 climate neutral objective.” City Finance Specialists such as George play a crucial role in advancing the work of the Climate City Capital Hub, led by BwB and its NetZeroCitiesEU partners – helping cities develop investment-ready climate projects that mobilise capital for transformative change.  To learn more about the Capital Hub, visit the link in the comments below. Join the conversation: Has your city or organisation piloted an innovative financing model? What did you learn?