In the competition for the title of the Green Capital of Europe in 2025, ten applicants for victory have been identified. Surprisingly, this time the list of candidates included a representative of the Balkan region - Romanian Brasov.
In the 15-year history of the competition, a participant from the Balkans has received such an honorary title only once: in 2016, Slovenian Ljubljana was proclaimed the green capital of Europe. And this year, the European Commission recommended three cities from Italy to the final at once: Brescia, Novara and Cagliari. Two cities from Poland: Rzeszow and Poznat. One city each from Austria (Graz), Spain (Logroño), Lithuania (Vilnius) and Portugal (Guimarães). As well as the previously mentioned Brasov from Romania.
Why is the Balkan region so modestly represented in this competition? After all, the Balkans are famous for their protected forests, national parks and vast nature conservation areas. In addition, the well-known German urban researcher Philip Gartner five years ago, comparing satellite images of 43 European cities, recognized Bosnian Sarajevo as the greenest capital in Europe, and Gartner identified Slovenian Ljubljana as the third city in terms of the number of green spaces.
However, the opinion of the European Commission is somewhat different from the conclusions of the scientist. Stockholm (Sweden) - 2010 was recognized as the greenest capitals in the EC competition; 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; Oslo (Norway) - 2019; Lisbon (Portugal) - 2020; Lahti (Finland) -2021; Grenoble (France) - 2022; Tallinn (Estonia) - 2023. Spanish Valencia has been proclaimed the Green Capital of the next year 2024.
It turns out that the amount of vegetation is not the most important factor in the conditions of this competition. Among the 12 criteria for assessing the "greenness" of cities in the EC priority are the fight against noise pollution, climate change, the environmental friendliness of urban transport, the rational use of waste, careful land use, energy efficiency and good governance.
As a rule, the results of the competition become known towards the end of the year. In addition to reputation preferences, the winner will receive a pleasant bonus in the form of several hundred thousand euros.
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