Ezine No. 27 – July 2018
In this issue
- Lisbon wins the 2020 European Green Capital Award!
- Cornellà de Llobregat and Horst aan de Maas are joint winners of the 2019 European Green Leaf Award!
- New awards' competition cycles open
- European Commission calls for experts to join the Expert Panel
- What’s happening in Nijmegen?
- What’s happening in Leuven and Växjö?
- Spotlight on previous winners: Ljubljana
- GDPR notice
Lisbon wins the 2020 European Green Capital Award - Parabéns!
Congratulations to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, who will be the European Green Capital in 2020! Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, announced Lisbon as the winner at a spectacular and suspenseful awards ceremony in Nijmegen on 21 June. For the first time in the history of the awards, Lisbon received a financial incentive of €350,000 to help kick-start the European Green Capital environmental programme for their laureate year.
Lisbon mayor Fernando Medina and the city delegation receiving their award from Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
Lisbon was shortlisted to the final stage of the competition along with Ghent (Belgium) and Lahti (Finland), from 13 cities across Europe. The finalists then presented their city to an international Jury in Nijmegen to show their overall commitment to sustainable urban development, their capacity to act as a role model to other cities, and their strategy for communicating and engaging with their citizens.
Lisbon, European Green Capital for 2020
Lisbon performed strongly across all the environmental indicators, particularly with regard to sustainable urban mobility (transport), green growth & eco innovation, climate change adaptation and waste. It was Lisbon’s commitment to sustainability despite the economic crisis that really impressed the Jury, clearly demonstrating that environmental sustainability and economic growth go hand in hand. It was felt that the city of Lisbon will be a strong ambassador and role model, capable of inspiring other cities to start their own journey towards becoming more fit for life.
Cornellà de Llobregat and Horst aan de Maas are joint winners of the 2019 European Green Leaf Award!
There were two winners of the European Green Leaf Award for 2019: Cornellà de Llobregat in Spain and Horst aan de Maas in the Netherlands. Both cities received €75,000 to support their environmental programmes for the year.
Cornellà de Llobregat and Horst aan de Maas receiving their award with Karmenu Vella
Cornellà de Llobregat and Horst aan de Maas presented in the final stage along with Gabrovo in Bulgaria and Mechelen in Belgium. The finalists were shortlisted from 15 cities across Europe.
Cornellà de Llobregat, with its commitment to transforming the city into a sustainable high-density metropolitan area, was recognised as a role model for other compact urban areas. The Jury was particularly impressed by the city’s traffic calming measures and promotion of sustainable transport modes, as well as its focus on water management.
Horst aan de Maas was commended for its enthusiasm and well-planned inclusive urban strategy. The Jury was particularly impressed by the high level of citizen engagement in a range of environmental activities and programmes related to climate change, sustainable urban mobility, water, and air quality.
Competition for 2021 European Green Capital & 2020 European Green Leaf Awards now open!
Does your city have what it takes to be the next European Green Capital or European Green Leaf Award winner? The European Commission has launched the competition for the prestigious title of 2021 European Green Capital and 2020 European Green Leaf.
Being a European Green Capital or a European Green Leaf brings many benefits including a greater focus on environmental projects, international media coverage, increased tourism and foreign investment, boosting the local economy and helping to create employment. EGCA and EGLA winners and shortlisted cities also gain access to the exclusive European Green Capital Network and European Green Leaf Network, respectively, providing them with support and a platform for sharing knowledge and best practice. In addition, previous applicants have said that the application process in itself proved beneficial in evaluating their progress and plans and benchmarking themselves against their peers.
Applying for the Awards
Register via the portal to check if your city is eligible for the EGCA 2021 or EGLA 2020. Applications must be submitted by 18 October 2018 at 16.00 (CEST / GMT +2).
Call for Experts
Would you like to be part of the evaluation process for the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf Awards? The European Commission is seeking three new experts to join the Expert Panel. Experts are required for the following three environmental indicators:
- Energy Performance
- Noise
- Sustainable Land Use
The primary role of the expert is to assess applicant cities on their performance in an environmental indicator area. This usually takes place from November to March. As part of the evaluation, experts prepare technical comments to go into the Technical Assessment Reports. Feedback from the experts is not only pivotal part of the competition process; it also provides cities with valuable advice and guidance on how they can improve their approach in each environmental indicator and topic area.
For more details about the role or how to apply, visit the Expert Panel page. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 31 July 2018.
What’s happening in Nijmegen, European Green Capital 2018?
European Green Capital Week
June was a busy month for Nijmegen, who hosted their European Green Capital Week. As part of the celebration, Nijmegen organised a range of events and activities around the city, including an open air concert, excursions to see examples of urban sustainability in practice, and of course, the eagerly anticipated 2020 European Green Capital and 2019 European Green Leaf Awards Ceremony.
Excursion to Nijmegen’s De Stadswaard (Riverpark)
Click on the image below to watch the video of the European Green Capital Week in Nijmegen.
Four Day Marches
Another exciting event is taking place in Nijmegen this month; from 17 – 20 July 2018 the city will host the 102nd annual Four Day Marches (De Vierdaagse). As the name suggests, event participants must walk for 30-55km per day (depending on age) for four days to promote good health, sports and exercise. The first ever march took place in 1909 and had just over 300 participants. It has now become an international event, this year expected to attract around 50,000 participants from all over the world. Click on the link below for the official De Vierdaagse video.
Nijmegen Green Challenges
During its year as the European Green Capital, Nijmegen is setting monthly environment challenges for its residents, businesses and institutions, with each challenge focusing on a different environmental topic. June was all about green energy, encouraging businesses to switch to renewable energy providers and residents to participate in community solar energy projects. For July, the focus is on care and exercise. Nijmegen will be challenging its citizens to ditch the car and cycle to work at least two days a week. Challenge yourself: check out the website for all past and upcoming challenges!
What’s happening in Leuven and Växjö, European Green Leaf winners for 2018?
Leuven Food Strategy
Leuven 2030 – a network of citizens, businesses, schools, and public authorities - has developed a strategy to make the food and agricultural system in Leuven more sustainable. The food strategy was a collaborative effort between a wide range of stakeholders including food producers, traders, caterers and residents, and focuses on all aspects of the food chain, from production and processing to distribution and consumption.
Leuven's food strategy will bring food producers and consumers closer together. Photos by Tim Buelens.
The strategy aims to bring food producers and consumers closer together, for instance, through using local and seasonal catering in schools, universities and businesses. Leuven also aims to promote urban farming and encourage citizens to grow their own food. Leuven is focusing on food as it is a vital part of life, and how we manage our food production and consumption has a profound impact on our environment as well as our health, cultural heritage and local economy. Promoting a local and sustainable food system ensures that we can meet the needs of our citizens while having minimal impacts on our environment.
Car-free Sunday in Leuven
On Sunday 26 August Leuven centre will be car free! Instead of being filled with cars, the city’s squares and streets will be transformed into sports fields, markets, music venues, dancefloors and much more! Leuven introduced an ambitious circulation plan in 2016 to restrict car use in the centre and promote cycling as means of transport. Thanks to the plan, cycling has increased by 30%, motorised traffic decreased by 10%, and citizens can now enjoy 30ha of pedestrianised zones around the city.
Cycling through nature in Växjö!
To mark this year’s World Biodiversity Day in May, Växjö held a 24-hour bike ride to explore the city’s wildlife. Cyclists stopped at locations such as the Kronoberg Castle ruin, the Kronoberg Nature Reserve, and Linnaeus Park, to see what different animal and plant species could be spotted. Växjö is home to 27 Natura 2000 sites, with many of its protected areas located less than 5km from the city centre. With so much wildlife surrounding the city, what better place to go for a biodiversity bike ride! For news and upcoming events in Växjö, visit the Environment and Sustainability Facebook page.
Carbon reductions in Växjö!
The municipality of Växjö reduced its carbon emissions by 790 tonnes between 2016 and 2017, a 17% decrease in just one year! This puts Växjö on the right path towards its goal of being fossil fuel free by 2030.
One of the biggest contributors to the carbon reduction was by switching to biodiesel for the municipality’s vehicles and construction work. Växjö is now looking at its district heating system to see where further emissions reductions can be achieved. Växjö made the commitment to become a fossil fuel free city as far back as 1996 and was one of the first municipalities in Europe to sign the Covenant of Mayors, one of the largest climate change and energy initiatives in the world. View the full news story on the Växjö Kommun website.
Spotlight on Previous Winners
Ljubljana: fighting plastic waste
Ljubljana, winner of the European Green Capital Award for 2016, has taken an innovative step towards transitioning to a circular economy! Meet BERT, a vending machine that dispenses daily essentials such as shampoo, oil, vinegar and bio detergents.
What makes BERT stand out from other vending machines is that it does not use packaging. Rather, customers can use their own containers to collect the products, greatly reducing the amount of plastic accumulated from a shopping trip!
The scourge of plastic waste has gained a lot of attention recently, and rightly so; every year Europeans generate an astounding 25 million tonnes of plastic waste, with only 30% getting recycled. Packaging, such as water bottles and food containers, are the biggest single source of this waste. In 2018, the European Commission launched its Plastics Strategy to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste. The Strategy aims to make all plastic packaging in the EU recyclable by 2030, to reduce single-use plastics and also restrict the use of microplastics (the tiny fragments that come from broken down plastic). With European Green Capitals such as Ljubljana introducing innovative solutions such as BERT, we are one step closer to tackling plastic waste and moving towards a truly circular economy.
