Brescia, city participation in European Green 2024

Brescia, The European Commission has launched the 2024 competition for the European Green Capital (EGCA 2023) for cities that are concretely committed to become more sustainable. The financial award is aimed at supporting cities in implementing urban sustainability measures. The winning city of EGCA 2024 will receive €600.000,00.

The European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “Sustainability is not a luxury, it is a necessity. In these difficult times, when a number of European cities are facing economic and social challenges, we want to help them realize their vision of sustainability. Past winners have demonstrated that it is perfectly possible to live in a cleaner, greener environment and protect the health of citizens while having a thriving economy. I encourage all cities in Europe to follow the Green Capital and Green Leaf path of urban sustainability.”

Vsince the European Green CapitaIn addition to highlighting the good work done, it has many advantages: greater international media coverage, increased local pride, greater attention to environmental projects and increased foreign investment. All finalist and winning cities also have access to a network of previous finalists and winning cities to share knowledge on how to overcome key challenges.

Applying to the European Green Capital 2024 and winning means not only acknowledging that the activities carried out in the years preceding 2021 have been effective but will also allow the City to complete the urban transformation towards a sustainable and resilient city.

The transformation must necessarily involve all citizens in an active and participatory way, so that the choices adopted by civic administrations can be long-lasting over time as they are the result of a sharing of objectives and conscious life choices. To do this it is essential to act as a community, a cohesive community that communicates and shares a vision, not only between institutions and stakeholders but also between citizens, families, networks and neighborhoods.

In summary, participation in the European tender includes:
Economic prize: The winning city of EGCA 2023 will receive €600.000,00
European cities with a number of inhabitants exceeding 100.000,00 can participate

Evaluation process.  The evaluation process consists of two fundamental moments. In the first instance, for each application submitted, the following 12 environmental indicators will be assessed by expert members:

1. Air quality;
2. Noise
3. Waste
4. Acqua
5. Nature and biodiversity
6. Sustainable use of land
7. Green growth and Eco-innovation
8. Climate change: mitigation
9. Climate change: adaptation
10. Sustainable urban mobility
11. Energy efficiency
12. Governance

When submitting the application and for each indicator (with the exception of the last one), it will be necessary to describe:
the state of the current situation;
the measures adopted in the last 5-10 years;
short and long term objectives and strategies for achieving them;

A group of experts identified by the European Community will draw up the list of finalist cities (generally three) which will be able to access the second phase of the evaluation process, presenting projects and action plans to an international jury which will decide on the winning city of the EGCA.