Everything you wanted to know about the European Green Capital Award & European Green Leaf Award

What is the European Green Capital Award for?

Urban areas are the source of many of today’s environmental challenges – not surprisingly, since two out of three Europeans live in towns and cities. Local governments and authorities can provide the commitment and innovation needed to tackle and resolve many of these problems.

One of the policy tools the European Commission is using to address these challenges is the European Green Capital Award (EGCA), which recognises and rewards local efforts to improve the environment, the economy and the quality of life in cities. Cities differ enormously and sharing concrete examples of what a European Green Capital can look like is essential if further progress is to be made.

Thus, the European Green Capital Award’s main objective is therefore to promote and reward the efforts of European cities with over 100,000 inhabitants that are committed to improving the urban environment. Running for over a decade, the Award is given every year to a city that:

• Has a consistent track record of achieving high environmental standards;
• Is committed to ongoing and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development; and
• Can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote environmental best practices across Europe.

Here is a short video clip that gives an overview of the European Green Capital Award.

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 with 20,000 to 100,000 inhabitants.

The objectives of the European Green Leaf Award are threefold:

• To recognise cities that demonstrate a good environmental record and commitment to generating green growth;
• To encourage cities to actively develop citizens’ environmental awareness and involvement; and
• To identify cities able to act as a ‘green ambassador’ and to encourage other cities to progress towards better sustainability outcomes.

This video gives an overview of the European Green Leaf Award.

How long has it been going?  Who are some previous winners and why?

The European Green Capital Award was launched by the European Commission in 2008, with the first city awarded the title in 2010.

To date, eleven cities have been awarded the title of European Green Capital since it began in 2010. Stockholm, Sweden, won the inaugural title, followed by Hamburg in Germany (2011); Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain (2012); Nantes in France (2013); Copenhagen in Denmark (2014); Bristol in the UK (2015); Ljubljana in Slovenia (2016); Essen in Germany (2017) and Nijmegen in the Netherlands (2018). The 2019 European Green Capital is Oslo, Norway, and will be followed by Lisbon, Portugal who won the title for 2020.

For a complete overview of all previous winners to date, please visit this link.

The European Green Leaf Award was launched in 2015, and the two inaugural winners were Mollet del Vallès in Spain and Torres Vedras in Portugal. A further five cities have one to date: Galway, Ireland (2017); Leuven, Belgium (2018); Växjö, Sweden (2018); and joint winners for 2019, Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain and Horst aan de Maas, the Netherlands.

For more information on these winners, please visit this link.

What makes for a good green city?

There are many elements that make up a green city. Cities that apply for the European Green Capital Award are evaluated based on 12 environmental indicators and European Green Leaf applicants are assessed based on six environmental topic areas (explained in further detail in Question 4). These criteria are designed to cover a comprehensive range of environmental factors that affect people’s everyday lives as well as the local and global environment. Winning cities are not necessarily best across every single indicator criterion, as no city is perfect; however, the focus of the competitions is really about what the city has done to date and their commitment to continue to drive sustainable urban development into the future.

We therefore recognise that each city is different, and has its unique set of environmental, social and economic challenges, meaning there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to being green. This is evident in the diversity of EGCA and EGLA winners and the different approaches they adopt to drive sustainable development. Yet we believe these cities share common principles that guide their environmental planning and practices, building the foundations for a green city. In essence, a green city…

• is committed to enhancing the urban environment to improve the quality of life of its citizens;
• engages meaningfully with its citizens, putting them at the heart of the city’s environmental planning and management;
• is ambitious in its plans and targets, continually striving to improve on its practices;
• collaborates with other cities and networks to share knowledge and best practice;
• recognises its role in global sustainability, minimising the city’s environmental footprint and leading other cities worldwide by example.

How do people apply? / When is the deadline?

For many European cities, even just applying for the competitions has been of great benefit as it encourages cross-departmental communication in cities to put together the application, fostering collaboration and providing a useful overview of all the environmental initiatives that cities are implementing. Further detail on benefits can be found under point 7.

The next competition cycle to search for the European Green Capital 2022 and European Green Leaf 2021 title holders will open on 14 May and will close on 14 October 2019. Cities that are interested in applying for either competition must first register their interest to access the full set of application forms.

The registration portal will go live on the 14th of May, but cities that are already interested can follow the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf Secretariat on our social media channels – Twitter or Facebook – and website for latest news of the opening of the call for applications. Alternatively, interested cities can email info@europeangreencapital.eu / info@europeangreenleaf.eu to register their interest and the Secretariat will inform the registered city when the competition opens.

For European Green Capital eligible cities (with over 100,000 inhabitants), the European Commission is hosting an Applicant Workshop on 27 May in Brussels. This Applicant Workshop is a one-day workshop that will give any interested city a comprehensive overview of how to put together an application for this next competition. To register, please email applicantworkshop@europeangreencapital.eu by the 22nd of May. More information can be found here.

Overview of the EGCA Competition Process

The competition to find the European Green Capital is open to any city with over 100,000 inhabitants in EU Member States, EU Candidate Countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Cities submit an application demonstrating their previous and current environmental work, as well as their future goals and plans across twelve environmental indicators:

• Climate Change: Mitigation
• Climate Change: Adaptation
• Sustainable Urban Mobility
• Sustainable Land Use
• Nature and Biodiversity
• Air quality
• Noise
• Waste
• Water
• Green Growth and Eco-innovation
• Energy performance
• Governance

A panel of twelve independent, internationally acknowledged experts carry out a technical assessment of the applications based on the above 12 indicators and provide a ranking of the Applicant Cities, along with a shortlist to go to the next stage of the competition.

The shortlist of cities is then submitted to an international Jury, chaired by the European Commission. The European Green Capital Award finalists are invited to present a communications strategy along with an action plan on how they intend to fulfil their European Green Capital year, should they win, to the Jury. The jury evaluates the cities’ commitment to continuous environmental improvement; how they will communicate their city’s activities, especially to citizens; and how they will act as role models and promote best practice to other cities. The winners are normally announced at an Awards Ceremony in June each year.

For further inspiration, city representatives can also visit this link to see applications from previous winning cities.

Overview of the EGLA Competition Process

The Competition Process for the European Green Leaf Award is similar in nature to the European Green Capital Award, but with some minor differences:

The European Green Leaf Award is open to towns and cities with 20,000 and up to 100,000 inhabitants from EU Member States, EU Candidate Countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The selection of a city or cities to earn a European Green Leaf Award is assessed on the basis of their performance across six environmental topic areas:

• Climate Change and Energy Performance
• Sustainable Urban Mobility
• Nature, Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use
• Air Quality and Noise
• Waste and Circular Economy
• Water

The same panel of twelve independent, internationally acknowledged experts carry out a technical assessment of the received applications based on the above six environmental topic areas, provide a ranking of the Applicant Cities and the finalists that go onto the next stage of the competition.

The finalists then have to make their case to the jury, demonstrating the city’s achievements and future vision. Based on the quality of this presentation, the jury selects the winning city or cities. Depending on the year, a maximum of two cities can jointly win the European Green Leaf title.

For more information on the application process for both competitions, cities can visit this link for the EGCA and this link for the EGLA competition.

Have the criteria changed over the years?

Yes, the criteria have evolved and changed over the years, in line with latest EU policy on the urban environment. The inaugural year of the competition saw 10 environmental indicators for European Green Capital Award and by 2014 the competition included 12 indicators, the number we see today. In 2015, the application form asked cities to provide information for each of the 12 indicator areas in the format of ‘Present situation, Past Performance and Future Plans’ and was found to be successful and retained for succeeding award cycles. Broadly speaking, the environmental indicator concepts have not changed drastically, but have been modified or improved to help make the application process clearer. Fore more detailed information, please visit previous technical assessment reports which outline each cycle’s criteria.

For the European Green Leaf Award, the six environmental topic areas have also broadly stayed the same. For a complete overview please visit the technical assessment reports here.

How is the award helping Europeans to live greener cleaner lives?

It is important to reward cities which are making efforts to improve the urban environment and move towards healthier and sustainable living areas. Progress is its own reward, but the satisfaction and pride involved in winning a prestigious European award will spur cities to invest in further efforts and will boost awareness in other cities.

Winning cities also have to develop and implement a European Green Capital programme, putting a strong focus on the environment during their year. This normally includes hundreds of projects and events that involve citizens, helping to raise awareness of environmental topics locally and ensuring citizens are part of the sustainability transition of a city. Some examples of initiatives that previous winners have implemented include: one of Bristol’s schools initiated the project “every child plants a tree” which planted over 30,000 trees and the city of Nijmegen implemented repair cafés in the city which are run by volunteers to repair anything from laptops to furniture to lengthen a product’s life.

Furthermore, Award winners go onto become Ambassadors, inspiring other cities to make environmental changes by sharing best practices.

What else should we have asked you / anything you’d like to add?

• What are the benefits of winning and applying?

The winning European Green Capital city receives €350,000 to help kick-start their environmental programme, along with the following benefits:

• Access to the exclusive European Green Capital Network of previous winners and finalist cities to share environmental knowledge, exchange best practices and inspire change in other European cities.
• Improved international profiles, networking and new alliances.
• Positive international media coverage.
• More emphasis on environmental projects through sponsorship and grants.
• Boost in local pride among citizens and citizen engagement.
• Increases in eco-tourism.
• Attracts public financial support and investment & creates new jobs via foreign investors.
• Momentum to continue improving environmental sustainability.

European Green Leaf winners see the following benefits:

• Winners receive €75,000 to help kick-start their environmental programme for the year.
• Attraction of new investors where green performance matters, which is an open door for increased tourism, commercial investment, new jobs and further investment in green growth initiatives.
• Citizen’s pride in living/working /playing in a green city which is recognised at EU level and where the city authority’s efforts to improve inhabitants’ quality of life are seen as a priority.
• Access to the European Green Leaf Network of previous winners and finalist cities to exchange best practices, experiences and knowledge for continued better quality of life.
• Valuable national and international media coverage which leads to wider active interest in the city and its environmental achievement.

Furthermore, many cities have noted that even just applying for the competitions themselves have proved very beneficial for the following reasons:

• Preparing and submitting an application is a useful tool for cities to measure their progress and can be used as a benchmarking tool against peers across Europe.
• Preparing an application is a great opportunity for enhancing inter?departmental communications & relations within the Local Authority, leading to a clearer overall picture of the city, as well as establishing a city’s sustainability vision for the future and steps to collectively achieve this.
• It is useful to have one document to show the status of all the green initiatives in the city. Expert feedback on a city’s application can be used to identify strong and weak areas of the city for further improvement – giving cities a free international, environmental audit.
• Data collected for the application form may have many uses. It is an ideal opportunity to create a ‘Sustainability Report’ for the city.
• It enhances citizen participation via the city’s campaign to win the title as part of their communication strategy proposal to the Jury.

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