Next European Green Capitals CIVITAS cities again!
The CIVITAS Initiative would like to congratulate CIVITAS demonstration city Nantes and CIVITAS Forum member Copenhagen for being recognised as European Green Capital 2013 and 2014 respectively.
The European Commission has set up the Green Capital initiative to reward and showcase environmental best practice among European cities. Since the start of the European Green Capital Award, four of the five winning cities were CIVITAS cities: Stockholm, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Nantes and now Copenhagen! Their commitment to sustainable urban transport and involvement in the CIVITAS Initiative have considerably helped the winning CIVITAS cities to gain recognition as European Green Capital. 2010 Stockholm, Sweden One of the reasons the jury selected CIVITAS demonstration city Stockholm as the first European Green Capital, are the city’s efforts in lowering transport emissions and gaining independence from fossil fuels. As part of the CIVITAS Initiative, Stockholm has for example successfully tested a congestion charging scheme, introduced incentives such as free parking to promote clean vehicles and expanded the municipal clean fleet. 2012 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain This year’s European Green Capital, the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, is a CIVITAS demonstration city and will host the CIVITAS Forum conference from 24-26 September. Vitoria-Gasteiz was recognised for its smart urban design and green space programme. Through its participation in CIVITAS, the city doubled its efforts to turn public spaces into pleasant, people-centred environments, improve accessibility and reduce noise and the environmental impact from transport. 2013 Nantes, France Next year, CIVITAS demonstration city Nantes will take the title of European Green Capital. One of the key reasons the jury stated for honouring Nantes, is the city’s sustainable transport policy with a focus on public transport and bikes. Nantes was the first French city to successfully reintroduce electric trams. Its ambitious transport policy has reduced air pollution, and a new climate plan aims to cut CO₂ emissions by a quarter by 2020. 2014 Copenhagen, Denmark CIVITAS Forum city Copenhagen was singled out by the jury partly because of its leading role of a transport pioneer with the aim to become the world’s most practicable city for cycling. The city has the goal to have 50 percent of people cycle to their place of work or education by 2015 and to become CO₂-neutral by 2025. For more information, visit the European Green Capital website. Photo credit: © European Commission
Author: CIVITAS Secretariat
