NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS) is leading the CITY4CLIMATE – City Digital Twins for Climate Action project, an innovative initiative aimed at transforming how Portuguese cities tackle the challenges of climate change. Funded under the DigitalTwins4SmartTerritories (DT4ST) program, the project will run for 12 months.

CITY4CLIMATE seeks to develop a Digital Twin framework to support climate governance in the cities of Lisbon, Porto, and Guimarães — all of which are part of the European Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral Cities by 2030. The cities of Aveiro, Oeiras, and Vila Nova de Famalicão are participating as collaborating cities, strengthening the project’s potential for replication and scalability. These digital twins will enable real-time simulation, monitoring, and forecasting of public policy impacts, optimizing decision-making and accelerating urban decarbonization efforts.

The project’s technological architecture is based on integrating real-time data from IoT sensors, satellites, and municipal platforms, combined with predictive modeling, scenario simulation, and interactive 3D visualization. This approach will allow cities to test policies before implementation, improving resource allocation and enhancing urban resilience. Interoperability with European standards such as FIWARE and NGSI-LD ensures compatibility with the European Data Space and other digital platforms.

The project is coordinated by Professor Miguel de Castro Neto, Director of NOVA IMS and founder of the NOVA Cidade – Urban Analytics Lab. With extensive experience in urban intelligence and data-driven public policy, Professor Miguel de Castro Neto emphasizes that

The CITY4CLIMATE consortium includes a wide range of academic, technological, and municipal partners, including NOVA IMS, University of Aveiro, CCG/ZGDV, TekPrivacy, DevScope, Ubiwhere, Porto Business School, Lisboa E-Nova, and AdEPorto, along with the municipal governments of the six participating cities. This multidisciplinary collaboration ensures an integrated and effective approach to developing digital solutions for climate action.

Key expected outcomes include the development of functional digital twin prototypes for the pilot cities, the release of open reports containing climate indicators and methodologies, the creation of open-source tools for replication in other territories, and the definition of long-term commercialization and sustainability strategies.

CITY4CLIMATE is aligned with the National Strategy for Smart Territories (ENTI) and directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG 13 – Climate Action. By combining technological innovation, data science, and institutional collaboration, the project positions Portugal as a European leader in the digital and climate transition of cities.