European Green Capital Award
The European Green Capital Award is an award for a European city based on its environmental record. The award was launched on 22 May 2008 and the first award was given to Stockholm for the year 2010.
Aim
The aim of the European Green Capital Award is to recognise and reward local efforts to improve the environment, the economy, and the quality of life of growing urban populations. The award aims to provide an incentive for cities to share best practices, while at the same time engaging in friendly competition. It is given to a city that has improved its urban living environment as a whole through concrete activities such as:
- Cooperation and partnership between authorities, citizens, business, and other stakeholders aimed at developing and improving urban living conditions
- Implementation of sustainable mobility solutions
- Introduction and expansion of parks and recreational areas
- A modern approach to waste management
- Innovative solutions to noise pollution
- An integrated approach to urban management ensuring positive long-term effects
Eligibility
All cities across Europe with more than 100,000 inhabitants can be a candidate for European Green Capital. The award is open to EU member states, candidate countries (Turkey, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Iceland), and Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. In countries where there is no city with more than 100,000 inhabitants, the largest city is eligible to apply.
Entries are assessed on the basis of 12 indicators: local contribution to global climate change, transport, green urban areas, noise, waste production and management, nature and biodiversity, air, water consumption, waste water treatment, eco-innovation and sustainable employment, environmental management of the local authority, and energy performance.
The title is awarded by an international jury supported by a panel of supposed experts in different environmental fields.[1]
History
The idea of a European Green Capital was originally conceived at a meeting in May 2006 in Tallinn, Estonia.[2] The award is the result of an initiative taken by 15 European cities (Tallinn, Helsinki, Riga, Vilnius, Berlin, Warsaw, Madrid, Ljubljana, Prague, Vienna, Kiel, Kotka, Dartford, Tartu and Glasgow) and the Association of Estonian cities, who submitted the so-called Tallinn Memorandum to the European Commission, proposing the establishment of an award rewarding cities that are leading the way in environmentally friendly urban living. The award was officially launched based on an initiative of the European Commission in May 2008, and each year one European city is selected as the European Green Capital.[3]
Winners
- 2010: Stockholm, Sweden
- 2011: Hamburg, Germany
- 2012: Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
- 2013: Nantes, France
- 2014: Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2015: Bristol, England
- 2016: Ljubljana, Slovenia
References
- ↑ "Expert Panel | European Green Capital". Ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
- ↑
- ↑ The Tallinn Memorandum