For Immediate Release
April 14, 2026
Launch of New Report: Climate Justice and the Built Environment in Europe
The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) supports leading cities in Europe and beyond to develop and implement policies that tackle emissions across the entire life cycle of the built environment. CNCA empowers cities to embrace these changes and chart the way to a more sustainable, just and equitable future.
Building on this work, this report provides a practical and analytical guide for local governments, civic organizations, and community partners seeking to understand and confront the structural inequalities shaping climate outcomes in European cities.
It examines how historic and ongoing systems of oppression operating from the national to the neighborhood scale have produced legacies of exclusion in the built environment that continue to constrain cities’ abilities to deliver equitable climate action. Drawing from a comparative analysis of Glasgow, UK; Barcelona, Spain; and Nantes, France, the analysis situates local challenges within broader political, economic, and institutional contexts that shape access to housing, employment, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
The report calls for transformative, justice-oriented urban climate strategies, including expanding tenant protections and rent stabilization, strengthening cooperative and non-profit housing models, ensuring inclusive access to retrofit and energy programs, and reasserting public control over key services such as transportation and housing construction. It also highlights the need to meaningfully involve marginalized communities in planning processes and to build stronger alliances between civic organizations, unions, and public institutions to advance equitable climate transitions.
To learn more, please join us for the following webinars:
- Part 1: Introduction to Report — April 29th at 11:00 CEST (Register here)
- Part 2: Deeper Exploration of 3 case studies — May 27th at 15:00 CEST (Register here)
“Recognizing structural inequalities, how they came to exist, and how they endure in European cities is key to supporting more climate-just projects and ensuring they reach historically marginalized groups.” — Isabelle Anguelovski, Director, Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability
“As the impacts of climate change intensify, structural inequalities determine who benefits and who is left behind, making housing and economic equity foundational to any meaningful vision of climate justice.” — Emilia Oscilowicz, Doctoral Researcher, Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability
“As cities gain proficiency with technical approaches to the decarbonization of the built environment and assess their efficacy, it’s absolutely essential for city officers to consider how such climate action intersects with the structural inequities to ensure policies advance justice in Europe’s urban systems.” — Simone Mangili, Executive Director, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance
| This guide and workbook are available for free download here
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This resource was created by researchers from the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ) within the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
CNCA continues to partner with field leaders to develop resources for reducing embodied carbon in the built environment.
Learn more about:
- CNCA’s Climate Justice and Built Environment programs
- The Barcelona Laboratory for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ) hosted at ICTA-UAB (Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
About Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance:
The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance is an alliance of leading global cities working collaboratively to achieve carbon neutrality in the next 10-20 years while demonstrating innovative solutions and policy approaches to inspire other cities to reach carbon neutrality as quickly as possible. Our mission is to mobilize transformative climate action in cities in order to achieve prosperity, social equity, resilience and better quality of life for all on a thriving planet.
CNCA is committed to a just carbon neutral future that recognizes and redresses the disproportionate burdens and the disproportionate benefits of the fossil fuel economy by prioritizing climate action that advances the well-being of low-income people, Indigenous Peoples, communities of color, immigrants and refugees and other historically marginalized communities.
Media Contact:
Simone Mangili, CNCA Executive Director
simonemangili@carbonneutralcities.org
Program Contact:
Tracy Morgenstern, CNCA Director of Climate Justice
tracymorgenstern@carbonneutralcities.org
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