COMPASS-G : Competitive and Smart Territories for a Green Economy

The challenge:

Green transition, driven by the global need to mitigate climate change, appears as a major challenge in every city. Shifting towards a green economy model based on low-carbon solutions, green energy production, low consumption of natural resources and systemic circular economy applications will be a requirement if cities want to remain competitive and smart. 

However, promoting sustainability practices while transforming the current territorial economy into a digital and green one entails significant changes in the cities that can produce important disparities among regions. Far from being a neutral process, greening the economies, especially those in the industrial ecosystems, can be a very unequal process if regions are not able to detect their strengths and adopt tailor-made green solutions.

The network aims to test and subsequently implement diversified actions that can actively contribute to the definition of green economy pathways, enhancing skills and knowledge and accelerating sustainable industrial transformation as a key driver of long-term resilience.

Project idea:

Regional and urban disparities create distinct opportunities and operational scenarios for developing green economies. The same factors can either enable or constrain green economic development depending on the place, highlighting the need to pay close attention to geographical context. Thus, diverse local and regional contexts suggest the implementation of distinct actions for the success of the green economy.

COMPASS-G network wants to support cities in navigating the complex transition toward a competitive, smart, and sustainable green economy. Recognising the uneven nature of the green transition across regions, the project wants to promote place-based and systemic approaches to address regional disparities and help participating cities to develop tailored green economy pathways and solutions, aligned with their specific socio-economic and environmental contexts.

Looking for:

We are looking for cities that want to move toward a green economy and are willing to explore and test different solutions in their territories, with the aim to collaborate in the creation of the different green economy pathways. 

Ideal partners will like to explore and test concrete actions based on:

- Green business attraction.

- Green transition in industry and industrial areas.

- Green drivers for the city attractiveness and competitiveness.

- New skills required to supply the new “green jobs”.

- Green urban economies based on Circularity.

- City transformations required to shift toward green economy.

- Companies needs to shift to green economy models.

Who we are:

Sabadell is a medium-sized city in the metropolitan region of Barcelona. Due to its strategic geographic position in the industrial area of Vallès and its proximity to Barcelona, the city has significant opportunities for the development of a competitive industrial and research structure on a regional, national and European level.

During the last decade, Sabadell through its Economic Development Agency, has been fostering green transition in the companies and the industrial areas of the city with the deployment of different programmes and activities. 

In particular, Sabadell participated in the In4Green URBACT IV Action Planning Network (July 2023 – December 2025) providing a framework for critical reflection on the green transition in the industries and the city industrial areas. As a result, a collective vision was defined and the Integrated Action Plan on Green Transition in Industry for the city of Sabadell produced, from which a set of different actions will be tested in COMPASS-G. 

We are currently building the partnership and Sabadell, through its Economic Development Agency, is ready to lead it. Would you like to join us in shifting to a green economy? 

We would be happy to hear from you and explore how we can work together.