A Roadmap for a Greener Future 📍 SORIA, SPAIN

In 2020, Soria joined other European cities in committing to become climate-neutral by 2030. To meet this goal, the municipality developed a roadmap called Soria 2030 outlining the standards and actions needed to achieve local decarbonization focusing on six main sectors: the built environment, mobility and transport, waste and water, food, and energy. Another key area the city aimed at improving was the local government itself. The municipality aimed at modernising legislation and adopting a more sustainable culture throughout the internal and external policies implemented.

Through Soria 2030, the city aimed to build expertise by adopting five guiding principles to drive emission-reduction across the above-mentioned sectors. These principles are climate justice, governance, innovation and smart city development, bioeconomy, and social innovation. Soria understood that achieving such an ambitious transformation requires the engagement of all stakeholders from the very beginning of the initiative. This led the city to embrace a co-creative approach, involving citizens, organizations, associations, businesses, and other local partners in this transformative process.

The Soria 2030 Working Group was made up of more than 25 local organizations, including neighborhood associations, political parties represented in the city council, the local government, NGOs, parent-teacher associations, labor unions, and representatives from businesses and employers’ organizations, among others. This group met throughout 2021 to draft and approve the Soria 2030 Roadmap, which was formally adopted on November 11, 2021. Their collaboration ensured broad representation and consensus within the community.

Simultaneously, the Soria 2030 Think Tank was established as a collaborative space led by the CESEFOR Foundation and the city government. It brought together experts from various sectors, such as responsible production and consumption of food, water and waste management, energy, and more. Participants included notable organizations such as Ecodes, WWF, the Climate Change Office of MITECO, EIT Climate KIC, Iberdrola, Ecoembes, Red Eléctrica de España, AEICE, and GBE. These experts voluntarily followed the progress of the roadmap, provided valuable insights, and contributed ideas to elevate the initiative further. They also participated in key activities, such as the presentation of the roadmap.

The structured process ensured meaningful engagement and included the following steps:

1. First Meeting: Each axis began with an introductory session that presented relevant data and insights. Often, external experts were invited to provide inspiring perspectives. This session included an overview of Soria’s current situation related to the axis and collaborative exercises to develop a shared vision for 2030. The goal was to inspire participants, level knowledge, and spark collective creativity. Interactive dynamics encouraged active participation from all attendees.
2. Idea Collection: Following the first meeting, an idea submission form was opened for one week. Each organization was responsible for contributing ideas and disseminating the form as widely as possible within the community. As ideas were submitted, the CESEFOR team organized and uploaded them to a shared intranet for the working group to review and comment on.
3. Second Meeting: The second session focused on analyzing, refining, and prioritizing the collected ideas. Through interactive dynamics, participants collaborated to define the axis, identify transformative actions, and outline objectives and impacts.

This iterative and inclusive methodology ensured that the roadmap was deeply rooted in the collective knowledge and aspirations of the community while being informed by expert guidance.

Key Drivers

Communication: The municipality put a lot of effort into bringing together a diverse mix of associations and local stakeholders. To start, they created a list of organizations to invite and sent out letters asking them to join the co-creation sessions for Soria’s sustainability roadmap. At the first meeting, the city also handed out leaflets for attendees to share with family, friends, acquaintances, and coworkers. This was done to gather as many perspectives as possible. Thanks to this outreach, several more organizations interested in helping build a more sustainable Soria joined the process. In total, 28 organizations participated.

Governance: Throughout the development of the roadmap, Soria City Council presented itself as one more stakeholder instead of the leader. CESEFOR foundation, as consultants to the local government in the process of co-creation of Soria 2030, held the role of coordinator. By stepping back and participating as equals with everyone else, the local government created a sense of transparency that encouraged an open, easy flow of ideas.

Transparency: Since the roadmap was published, the Soria 2030 Working Group has kept meeting once a year to review how the co-created program is progressing and to look at the projects being developed. People feel more connected to local actions when they’ve had a hand in shaping them. This kind of involvement helps ensure strong participation in future social innovation efforts.

Lessons Learnt and Replication

​​​Since its launch, Soria has implemented a number of projects, helping cut CO₂ emissions by 30% according to 2023 calculations, through sustainable energy initiatives and by boosting the surrounding area's ability to absorb carbon. The city has also secured €27 million in European funding, which supports the local government in rolling out its collaborative decarbonization strategy.

Some key projects already underway include creating safe spaces for active mobility, reshaping the city into a “15-minute city,” and rewilding efforts under the "Project Brera" program.

City Size: While stakeholder engagement is essential to developing and legitimizing a decarbonization plan, Soria’s experience shows that city size matters. Creating this kind of plan using co-creation is often easier in smaller cities. For larger cities, a district-based approach may be more practical, as it reduces both the number of people involved and the area each plan covers.

Dedicated Administration: When a municipality chooses to use a co-creative process, the local government must step back and allow everyone to share their perspectives openly. This requires the city to trust the process and show real commitment to collaborative design.

Visit the Soria 2030 website to learn more.