On 25 June 2026, ECCAR and the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) officially launched the Environmental Justice City Lab, bringing together representatives from cities across Europe working in anti-racism, equality, social inclusion, climate, environment, and sustainability. Cities include Oslo, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Glasgow, Nantes, and Helsingborg.
The City Lab was established in response to a growing recognition that environmental and climate challenges are closely connected to broader questions of equity, inclusion, and structural inequality. While these topics are often addressed by different municipal departments, the City Lab provides a dedicated space to strengthen cross-departmental collaboration, exchange practical experiences, and explore how environmental and climate policy can be better connected with anti-racism and social inclusion work and vice versa.
The first session focused on identifying common challenges, opportunities, and priorities for future collaboration. Participants highlighted the importance of strengthening dialogue across municipal departments, particularly in the face of changing political contexts, competing priorities, and limited institutional capacity. Discussions also emphasized the growing need for stronger narratives around environmental justice, better use of data to understand inequalities, and practical approaches for embedding equity considerations into local climate action while ensuring that environmental dimensions are more systematically considered within anti-racism and social inclusion work.
An important insight from the discussion was that many cities are already addressing aspects of environmental justice in practice, often without explicitly framing their work in these terms. The City Lab therefore aims not only to introduce new perspectives, but also to help cities recognize, connect, and further develop existing practices across departments.
At the same time, participants expressed a strong interest in learning from one another. Cities identified peer-to-peer exchange, concrete implementation examples, interdisciplinary approaches, and practical tools for collaboration as key priorities for the City Lab moving forward.
The insights gathered during this first session will now inform the design of the upcoming autumn meetings. Together, ECCAR and CNCA will continue working closely with participating cities to develop a programme that responds directly to their needs, while also reaching out individually to explore opportunities for deeper collaboration and contributions from municipal experts.
The Environmental Justice City Lab reflects a shared commitment by ECCAR and CNCA to support cities in advancing more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable local governance by strengthening the connections between environmental and climate action, anti-racism, and social inclusion.
