Apart from the title, Lisbon receives a €350k financial incentive from the European Commission to kick-start its green capital year.

Commissioner Vella said: “I am delighted to be awarding Europe’s green city awards for the eleventh time to a new champion of urban sustainability, and for the sixth and seventh time to smaller green cities. As we enter the second decade of the European Green Capital Awards, the initiative has become even more significant than ever. Globally we are faced with enormous environmental challenges. Climate change, over consumption, plastic waste and biodiversity loss are major threats to our cities and our future. It is heartening and inspiring to see such strong leadership from Lisbon, and other European Green Capital winners. With best practice environmental management, good urban planning, and citizens at the heart of their green transformation, they showed how to turn environmental challenges into opportunities, and make their cities healthy and enjoyable places to stay, live and work in.”

The Jury felt that Lisbon – that started its journey towards sustainability during a period of economic crisis – can be an inspiration and a role-model for many cities across the EU, demonstrating clearly that sustainability and economic growth go hand in hand.

The Expert Panel highlighted that Lisbon is particularly strong in the field of sustainable land use, sustainable urban mobility (transport), green growth & eco innovation, climate change adaptation and waste:

• Lisbon was the first capital in Europe to sign the New Covenant of Mayors for Climate Change and Energy in 2016, after achieving a 50% reduction in C0₂ emissions (2002-14); reducing energy consumption by 23% and water consumption by 17% from 2007 to 2013;
• It has a clear vision for sustainable urban mobility, with measures to restrict car use and prioritise cycling, public transport, and walking. In 2017 Lisbon launched a bike-sharing scheme, with electric bikes comprising two thirds of the fleet to encourage cycling in the hillier parts of the city;
• It has one of the world’s largest networks of electric vehicle charging points, while 39% of the municipal car fleet is electric;
• 93.3% of people in Lisbon live within 300 m of a frequent public transport service;
• 76% of people in Lisbon live within 300 m of green urban areas, and
• It has a strong commitment to sustainable land use with particular focus on establishing green infrastructure, or connected networks of green space, to counteract the effects of climate change, such as drought, extreme heat, and storm flooding.

The Spanish city of Cornellà de Llobregat was commended for its commitment to transforming the city into a genuinely sustainable high-density metropolitan area that could be a role-model for other compact urban areas. The jury was particularly impressed by its traffic calming measures and promotion of sustainable transport modes. The city also demonstrates a strong focus on water management, including water conservation, flood management, and also public awareness-raising campaigns.

The Dutch city of Horst aan de Maas was commended for its enthusiasm and well-planned inclusive urban strategy. The jury was particularly impressed by the involvement of all stakeholders in the city, in particular its citizens, in a range of activities related to climate change, sustainable urban mobility, water, and air quality. The city has an extensive bicycle and public transport network and has taken a wide range of actions to encourage cycling, electric vehicles, and car sharing.

The European Green Capital Award (EGCA), now in its eleventh year, is awarded annually to a European city of over 100,000 inhabitants that has shown itself to be a leader in environmental, social and economic sustainability. The winner of the 2021 award will receive €350,000¹ to kick-start its year as a European Green Capital.

The European Green Leaf Award (EGLA) is open to towns and cities with between 20,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, to recognise and promote their efforts towards better environmental management and outcomes. The winner of the 2020 award will receive €75,000¹ to support its activities throughout its European Green Leaf year.

Being a European Green Capital or a European Green Leaf brings many benefits including, a greater focus on environmental projects, 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.

Both the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf Awards are open to cities in EU Member States, EU Candidate Countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Check if your city is eligible for the EGCA 2021 or EGLA 2020.

The deadline for applications for the 2021 European Green Capital and 2020 European Green Leaf Awards is 18 October 2018.

¹Subject to the approval of the EU 2019 Budget and approval by the College of the 2019 Financing Decision for the EU LIFE Programme

Would you like to be part of the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf Awards? The European Commission is seeking three experts to join the European Green Capital Award (EGCA) and European Green Leaf Award (EGLA) Expert Panel. Experts are required for the following three environmental indicators:

• Energy Performance
• Noise
• Sustainable Land Use

The Awards

The title European Green Capital is awarded every year to a European city for its commitment to environmental, social and economic sustainability. The European Green Leaf Award recognises and promotes the efforts of towns and cities with populations of 20,000 and up to 100,000 towards better environmental management and outcomes.

Role of the Expert Panel

The Expert Panel, made up of 12 environmental experts, plays an integral role in the awards process. Both the EGCA and EGLA competitions involve a two-step evaluation process. When cities apply for the award and are deemed eligible each application is reviewed and assessed by the Expert Panel.

EGCA applicants are assessed based on 12 environmental indicators, with each expert evaluating one indicator. EGLA applications are evaluated based on six environmental topic areas, with two experts per topic. This evaluation determines which cities get shortlisted to go the next stage of the competition.

Duties and responsibilities

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.

Other duties and responsibilities of the Expert Panel include:

• Responding to queries from applicant cities via the Secretariat;
• Peer review of a secondary indicator area;
• Preparation of technical comments for reporting purposes;
• Attendance at three evaluation meetings;
• Review of application form indicator text;
• Review of the guidance note on indicator area.

Experts must have:

• Proven and relevant competence and experience, including at European and / or international level, in the field of working with EU environment policy / sustainable urban development with strong focus on the particular environmental indicator;
• Absence of circumstances that could give rise to a conflict of interest;
• Good knowledge of the English language allowing active participation in the discussions;
• Be a national from a country covered by the European Green Capital and Green Leaf Awards¹;
• Selected Experts will be expected to perform evaluations and associated tasks for each competitive cycle and to attend three meetings per year.

¹The awards are open to cities from EU Member States, EU Candidate Countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland

Ghent (Belgium), Lahti (Finland), and Lisbon (Portugal), have made it to the final of the EGCA 2020. This is the second time these three cities will be in the same final, having all been shortlisted for 2019 competition!

The five cities shortlisted to compete for the European Green Leaf Award 2019 (EGLA) are Cornellà de Llobregat (Spain), Gabrovo (Bulgaria), Horst aan de Maas (Netherlands), Joensuu (Finland), and Mechelen (Belgium).

European Green Capital Award 2020 Shortlisted Cities: Ghent (Belgium), Lahti (Finland) and Lisbon (Portugal)

European Green Leaf Award 2019 Shortlisted Cities: Cornellà de Llobregat (Spain), Gabrovo (Bulgaria), Horst aan de Maas (Netherlands), Joensuu (Finland), and Mechelen (Belgium)

The Awards

The title of European Green Capital is awarded every year to a European city with over 100,000 inhabitants for its commitment to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Now in its 11^th year, the European Green Capital title has been awarded to ten cities to date: Stockholm, Sweden (2010); Hamburg, Germany (2011); Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain (2012); Nantes, France (2013); Copenhagen, Denmark (2014); Bristol, UK (2015); Ljubljana, Slovenia (2016); Essen, Germany (2017); Nijmegen, Netherlands (2018); and Oslo, Norway (2019).

Following the success of the European Green Capital Award, the European Green Leaf Award was established in 2015 to recognise the environmental efforts and achievements of smaller cities (20,000 – 100,000 inhabitants). To date five cities have been awarded the title of European Green Leaf: Mollet del Vallès, Spain (2015); Torres Vedras, Portugal (2015); Galway, Ireland (2017); and joint winners for 2018, Leuven in Belgium and Växjö in Sweden.

Next steps for the EGCA2020 and EGLA2019

Now the finalists are busy preparing for the next stage of the competitions, where they must present their cities to an international Jury, demonstrating 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.

This year’s winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 21 June 2018 in Nijmegen, the 2018 European Green Capital.

Participants are required to register in advance as space is limited. If you would like to attend, or would like more information, please contact the EGCA Secretariat at the email address or phone number below.

• applicantworkshop@europeangreencapital.eu
• phone +353 87 3619039

You can view the presentations made at previous Applicant Workshops here.