A new Brussels programme will help cities such as Sofia, Rome, Budapest and Paris to decarbonise.

Reducing a city's emissions to zero may seem like an impossible dream, but 100 EU cities are committed to doing so by the end of the decade.

As part of the '100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities' programme launched by the European Commission on Thursday, these cities have pledged to drastically reduce their emissions by 2030 and will receive EU support to achieve this goal.

The initiative received more than 370 applications, and the cities were selected based on their plans and enthusiasm to reach this target. Twelve cities outside the EU, including Glasgow, Sarajevo and Istanbul, were also chosen to participate.