2026 dweller Green Capital & Green Leaf shortlist is in! – Notice Important Internet

The finalists for the stylish dweller Green Capital & Green Leaf Awards hit been chosen, with the heptad cities designated supported on their accomplishments and ambitions in addressing cityfied environmental challenges adjoining to the manifold planetary crisis of status change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

They are directive by example, combine original solutions with brawny organization frameworks, aiming for flourishing environments for their citizens.  

The finalists for the 2026 dweller Green Capital accolade for cities above 100,000 inhabitants are:-

• Heilbronn (Germany),
• Guimarães (Portugal)
• Klagenfurt on Lake Wörthersee (Austria) 

For small cities of 20,000 people, the finalists for the 2026 dweller Green Leaf accolade are:-

• Sant Boi de Llobregat (Spain)
• Vaasa (Finland)
• Saint-Quentin (France)
• Agueda (Portugal)

Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, said:- 

“It is hortative to wager cities with desire and selection to oppose the naif transition. It is for the goodness of their citizens, their upbeat and calibre of life, but also for businesses and our ecosystems. With the Nature Restoration Law adopted, we today hit country targets for greening cities.

“Today’s finalists are already frontrunning in key environmental areas and crapper be an rousing for others to follow.” 

The dweller Green Capital and Green Leaf Awards countenance at the achievements of Europe’s crowning sustainable cities in heptad environmental areas: 

1. Air Quality 
2. Water Management 
3. Biodiversity, Green Areas, and Sustainable Land Use 
4. Waste and Circular Economy 
5. Noise Pollution 
6. Climate Change Mitigation 
7. Climate Change Adaptation 

Cities’ achievements  

Green Capital 

Heilbronn has a broad racket dirtying monitoring system. The combining of racket direction into the ‘Landscape Plan 2030’ and the ‘Mobility Concept’ and the wider citizen status shew a holistic move to cityfied planning.  

Guimarães has been designated for its squander direction and broadside frugalness practices prohibiting single-use materials at municipality events and promoting matter squander hindrance programs. In addition, it has also reinforced liquid efficiency by reaction liquid activity in municipal-owned buildings, primeval revealing spotting and repair, and creating open liquid stations. 

Klagenfurt on Lake Wörthersee has broad expose calibre monitoring and plans to boost meliorate expose calibre by conjunctive more households to sustainable regularise vaporisation and finance in sustainable municipality logistics, including automobile load bikes.   

Green Leaf 

Sant Boi de Llobregat integrates nature-based solutions, cityfied evacuation systems and status modify adjustment into the city. The municipality also has an broad plastic-free program, which promotes the ingest of touch water, substance render bottles and includes a ‘Tips for a Plastic-Free Shopping’ campaign. 

Saint-Quentin disposes of squander finished a direction grouping with broad coverage, using colour-coded bins for assorted squander types. To hold this, the municipality introduced original measures much as a digital move grouping for recycling (‘CLIIINK’). 

Agueda has a ‘Climate Action Plan’ with the enterprising direct of reaction edifice pedal emissions by 90% by 2050 compared to 2005. The ‘BeAgueda’ send integrates a shared-use e-bicycle grouping to meliorate instrumentation efficiency, invoke dioxide emissions and encourage flourishing lifestyles. 

Vaasa has implemented original online systems much as the scheme app ‘Water Account’ for real-time monitoring of liquid ingest by customers. ‘Minimossen’ in the municipality is Finland’s prototypal recycling paseo and a shopping locate for sustainable consumption. 

Next steps 

The finalist cities module background to a commission commission in Oct their environmental exteroception and governance, as substantially as their act strategy in housing they win. 

The winners module be declared in this year’s dweller Green Capital Valencia (Spain) on 24 Oct 2024 at a festive honor ceremony. 

The dweller Green Capital succeeder module obtain a business accolade of €600,000 to compel their strategy in cooperation with citizens and stakeholders.

The denomination of dweller Green Leaf is awarded to digit or digit cities. Each Green Leaf succeeder is acknowledged a business accolade of €200,000 to hold care activities during the assemblage when they are retentive the denomination and flash boost transformation. 

Benefits for cities 

Cities are bicentric to environmental protection. They centre on conception and resources, sanctioning the economical feat of sustainable practices and policies that crapper significantly invoke the environmental print of a super equilibrium of the population. In addition, cityfied areas, with their economies of bit and geared citizens, are essential body in environment the warning for environmental policies.  

The cities designated for the shortlist are constituted to be unpaid examples.

In addition, every individual cities obtain priceless feedback from autarkical experts, and crapper study their efforts with another cities, obtaining essential aggregation most how to meliorate their environmental performance. 

Winners draw momentous tending on a dweller or modify planetary take throughout their denomination year, boosting tourism, investment, and cooperation.

But there are daylong benefits modify daylong after their constituent ends.

Winning cities crapper modify the appearance of citizens on environmental affairs, creating a strength for ambitious, basic cityfied transformations that module meliorate cities permanently and draw individual investors. This crapper in invoke enliven others to study in their footsteps regionally, nationally, or modify globally, providing a significance of feel for citizens who actively hold the phylogenesis of their hometown. 

More aggregation crapper be institute in our online press kit. 

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