To celebrate the opening ceremony of Valencia earlier in January, Patrick Child, Deputy Director General at the European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment (DG Environment) gave an interview and replied to various questions on inspiring Spanish cities with a focus on air quality.
One of the European Green Leaf winners Elsinore (Denmark) launched its title year with a successful opening ceremony on 29 January 2024. Velenje (Slovenia), also one of the winners of the European Green Leaf Awards for 2024, will host its opening ceremony and festive activities on 14-15 February.
To guide potential applicant cities for the 2026 application process, the secretariat of the European Green Capital and Leaf Awards organised the annual ‘Applicant City Workshop’ on 1 February 2024. More than 50 participants attended, represented by 30 cities.
The call for applications is open until 30 April 2024. Interested cities as of 20.000 habitants still have time to apply for the Green Leaf titles and above 100.000 habitants for the Green Capital title for the year 2026. We recently organised a workshop for potential applicant cities. To receive the application forms, just register on EU Survey and you’ll get them automatically in your inbox.
A new year means a new European Green Capital! On 11 January 2024, Valencia kicked off its title year with an outstanding opening ceremony at the Palau de la Música. Representatives from the European Commission and the network were present for this key moment.
How to unlock nature-positive transformative change in the built environment? In 2023, the EUB&B Platform engaged with representatives from the built environment, investors, and policy makers to help identify transformative actions that can be taken at different levels to progress towards nature-positive models. The results of that engagement work are presented in a new publication, highlighting current drivers of change (technological, financial, political, etc.) to facilitate nature-positive business trajectories. The report looks, in particular, at the role of finance and policy as enablers of change and identifies next steps to scale up action.
In the last few years, more and more financial institutions have started engaging with companies on biodiversity. By providing yearly updates, the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and the EU Business & Biodiversity Platform want to help financial institutions to navigate the ever-changing landscape of collaborative biodiversity engagements. This overview points financial institutions to ongoing engagements that they can join, as well as directs them to information generated by past collaborative engagements. In this third update, nine new biodiversity-related collaborative engagements have been added.
The momentum behind biodiversity is growing among financial institutions, and so is the number of communities, networks and initiatives dedicated to this topic. This overview of biodiversity-related initiatives for financial institutions is a resource meant to help financial institutions understand the latest biodiversity-related initiatives out there - who is doing what, where and when. Launched in April 2021 by the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, UNEP FI, the PRI, and the Business & Biodiversity Platform, this report is updated yearly. The most recent update covers nineteen initiatives, outlining activities planned for the 2023-2024 period. It provides an overview of the nineteen initiatives, the topics they address and their level of collaboration for each topic. In addition, a fact sheet for each initiative is also included.
In the battle against marine plastic pollution, a new method has been developed by EU CLAIM project to help decision-makers choose effective clean-up technologies. This method shows promise in aligning with the goals of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water, and Soil.
The European Commission welcomes a provisional agreement to strengthen regulations towards a cleaner, carbon-neutral, and more competitive economy by 2050. The new law is designed to encompass additional sources of emissions, enhance the effectiveness of permitting, reduce administrative costs, increase transparency, and provide greater support to innovative technologies.
The 4th EU Clean Air Forum held on 23-24 November united stakeholders to share experiences and best practices for improving clean air policies. Amid the ongoing revision of EU ambient air quality rules, the forum also marked the introduction of the European Air Quality Index app, highlighting the significance of transparent information for combating air pollution.
The European Commission has proposed a comprehensive set of legislative reforms under the “one substance, one assessment” package. The reform aims to streamline the evaluation of chemicals across EU legislation, enhance the knowledge base on chemicals, and ensure early identification and action on emerging chemical risks.
Despite strides in recent decades, the impacts of emissions from various sources persist, leading to 300,000 premature deaths annually in the EU. Euronews "The Road to Green 6," delves into the challenge of air pollution within European cities, explores its effects on health and the environment, and the ongoing efforts to pave the way towards cleaner air.
In a significant stride toward addressing plastic pollution, the International Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution has concluded its third session with a decision to proceed with the formulation of a draft treaty text. This crucial step paves the way towards a binding international agreement on plastic pollution and marks a pivotal moment in the global effort to advance Zero Pollution goals.
On 17 October, the Member State Steering Committee of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform held its 5th meeting to discuss Zero Pollution at EU and national levels, focusing on the New European Bauhaus, the European Year of Skills, and the implementation progress of the Zero Pollution Action Plan.
On 9 November, the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform’s fifth meeting focused on the Zero Pollution Action Plan’s role in the European Year of Skills, the New European Bauhaus, and the strategic research agenda for the Green Deal Transition.
On 7 November, the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform hosted the third in its series of Zero Pollution Talks, this time focusing on the Soil Monitoring Law and the role of local and regional authorities and stakeholders for its implementation.
