Shortlisted cities for the 2020 European Green Capital Award (ECGA) have been announced: Ghent and Lisbon, two out of three runners-up have signed the Green Digital Charter, asserting a political commitment to use digital technologies to improve quality of life in cities.
SAVE-THE-DATE : on Thursday 21 June 2018, winners of the 2020 EGCA will be announced in Nijmegen. The ceremony will be live-streamed. Keep an eye on the ECGA website (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/europeangreencapital/) and social media channel (@EU_GreenCapital)
This article was originally published on the Covenant of Mayors website.
The calls for the European Green Capital 2020 and European Green Leaf 2019 awards are now open.
The European Commission has opened up the competition to large and small cities across Europe for these prestigious awards, which recognize high environmental records and an outstanding commitment to sustainable urban development. In these year’s editions, both winners of the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf awards will receive for the first time a financial incentive to boost their environmental programmes!
The winner of the European Green Capital award will receive €350,000, while the winner of the European Green Leaf award will receive €75,000. Cities with a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants can apply to become European Green Capital, while the European Green Leaf accepts applications from smaller-sized cities (20,000 – 100,000 inhabitants).
Alongside the new financial incentive, winners of the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf awards gain numerous benefits:
• Increased tourism and investment
• International prestige and media coverage
• Membership of an exclusive network of previous winners and shortlisted cities to share ideas and experience towards furthering environmental sustainability
• Application process supports cities in evaluating their environmental progress and benchmarking themselves against their peers
• Boosts momentum to accelerate environmental actions
The European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella: “The European Green Capital and Green Leaf Awards are becoming increasingly important as we strive to manage our cities and towns against the challenges of population growth, pressure on resources and our responsibilities to manage climate change. European Green Capitals and Green Leafs provide vital inspiration and motivation to help other cities find solutions, on both a European and a global stage.”
• All information about the application process of the European Green Capital 2020 and European Green Leaf 2019 awards
• Applications to both awards can be submitted until 18 October.
Three signatory cities of the Green Digital Charter are in the final race for winning the European Green Capital Award (EGCA) for the year 2019. Ghent, Lisbon and Tallinn are among the five main European cities selected by the jury for their efforts towards environmentally-friendly cities.
To win the price, they must convince the jury of:
- their overall commitment to ongoing environmental improvement and sustainable development;
- their capacity to act as a role model;
- their strategy for communicating with the public
After Stockholm (2010), Nantes (2013) and Bristol (2015), will another GDC city be awarded greenest city in Europe in 2019?
SAVE THE DATE – Essen will host the award ceremony on 2 Jun e2017
To know more, visit the “European Green Capital” webpage. Would you like more information about it, please send an email to: info@europeangreencapital.eu