Brussels, 22 July 2022
Today, the Commission announced the finalists for the European Green City Awards. The European Green Capital and Green Leaf Awards recognise the remarkable efforts of cities and towns to improve their living environment and their commitment to spark further transformational activities. The finalists for the European Green Capital Award 2024 are the cities of Valencia in Spain and Cagliari in Italy. The Green Capital Award recognises and rewards local efforts to improve the environment, and thereby the economy and the quality of life in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The award is given each year to a city, which is leading the way in environmentally friendly urban living.
In addition, three cities were pre-selected as finalists for the European Green Leaf Award 2024, which recognises the sustainable efforts of small cities (from 20,000 to 99,999 inhabitants) – Elsinore (Denmark), Velenje (Slovenia) and Bistrița (Romania).
Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said:
Cities are at the heart of our fight against the climate, pollution and biodiversity crises. It’s about tackling air pollution, advancing clean mobility, reducing energy consumption in buildings, greening urban spaces, and looking in a completely different way at waste management. You are showing Europe the way and leading efforts to deliver the systemic and long-term changes the European Green Deal calls for.
The finalists announced today were chosen based on 12 environmental indicators for the Green Capital and on six environmental topic areas for the Green Leaf awards. In October, they will present themselves to the Jury Panel chaired by the Commission outlining their communication strategy along with an action plan on how they intend to implement their strategy and engage its citizens and stakeholders to fulfil their green ambitions. The winners will be announced on 27 October 2022 at the Awards Ceremony in this year’s Green Capital, Grenoble. More information is on the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf websites.
Source – EU Commission