Limerick Wins European Green City Award
Limerick has won the title of European Green Leaf 2020 for smaller cities along with the Belgian city of Mechelen. The Finnish city of Lahti won the European Commission’s European Green Capital Award for 2021.
The international Jury said that green cities are healthier and happier places for people to grow, live and work in, and for visitors too. All finalists have shown that the green transition is affordable for all and results in more socially inclusive and connected cities. They also demonstrated that the behavioural changes required to be a sustainable city is becoming the norm for their citizens, businesses and decision makers. The winning cities are eager to demonstrate to all cities in Europe, front runners or not, that they can achieve meaningful and measurable progress in their journey to a sustainable development.
Lahti is particularly strong in the fields of air quality, waste, green growth and eco-innovation, as well as governance.
Joint European Green Leaf 2020 winner, Limerick, was commended for its ongoing investments leading to improved air quality and noise levels in the city. Limerick is currently transforming itself into Ireland’s first digital city, integrating several public services, creating smart homes and buildings, energy districts and smart neighbourhoods. The city is effectively managing its air quality thanks to the acquisition of particle and gas monitors. Limerick also encourages people to leave their cars at home by providing better cycling, walking and public transport infrastructure with the aim of reducing transport emissions. Limerick was also recognised for its development of noise maps and action plans, updated every five years, continuously monitoring the acoustic environment, analysing trends, and assessing the effectiveness of the actions undertaken.
Joint European Green Leaf 2020 winner, Mechelen, was recognised for its dedication to sustainable urban mobility, nature, biodiversity, sustainable land use, and waste and circular economy. Mechelen was also a finalist in last year’s competition, for the European Green Leaf 2019.
The European Green Capital Award aims to recognise the environmental achievements of European cities and to inspire others to take positive action in making their cities fit for life. Eleven other cities have won the European Green Capital Award to date: Stockholm (2010), Hamburg (2011), Vitoria-Gasteiz (2012), Nantes (2013), Copenhagen (2014), Bristol (2015), Ljubljana (2016), Essen (2017), Nijmegen (2018), Oslo (2019) and Lisbon (2020). The finalists for the European Green Capital 2021 were Lahti (Finland), Lille and Strasbourg (France).
European Green Leaf Awards are given to towns and cities with populations between 20,000 to 100,000 citizens, for their potential to act as a ‘green ambassadors’ for smaller cities. Since its inauguration in 2015, seven other cities have won a European Green Leaf Award so far: Mollèt del Valles, Spain and Torres Vedras, Portugal (2015); Galway, Ireland (2017); Leuven, Belgium, and Växjö, Sweden (2018); and Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain, and Horst aan de Maas, the Netherlands (2019). The finalists for the European Green Leaf 2020 were Lappeenranta (Finland), Limerick (Ireland) and Mechelen (Belgium).
