Stockholm is the very first city to be designated European Green Capital 2010 by the EU Commission. The Commission’s intention with the “European Green Capital” is to improve the living environment in cities and the environment as a whole by designating one city every year to be an example to others and to take a lead in this work by presenting good examples and sharing experiences, thoughts and ideas with other cities.

“More than half of the world’s population live in cities, and in Europe the figure is no less than 80 per cent. Cities therefore play an important role in improving the living environment for citizens. This award represents an excellent opportunity to inform and inspire others about the good environmental work being undertaken by the City, the residents of Stockholm and companies,” says Mayor Sten Nordin (Moderate Party).

The prize is awarded to the city that is leading the way towards environmentally friendly urban living and that can display consistent results with regard to satisfying environmental standards, continuous commitment in terms of ambitious measures, continued environmental improvements and sustainable development. The cities nominated were evaluated on the basis of several environmental indications: climate change, local transport, public green areas, air quality, noise, waste, water consumption, waste water treatment, sustainable utilisation of land, biodiversity and environmental management.

“The nominees were all potentially worthy winners. It’s incredibly positive that so many European cities can put forward so many good examples. It’s particularly pleasing in light of the tough competition that the award was given to Stockholm, and this is a result of the City’s long-term, exhaustive environmental work,” says Ulla Hamilton (Moderate Party), Vice Mayor, Environmental and Traffic Division.

Reason for the award

The reasons given for Stockholm being designated European Green Capital 2010 included:

• the City has an integrated administrative system that guarantees that environmental aspects are considered in budgets, operational planning, reporting and monitoring.
• the City has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25 per cent per inhabitant since 1990.
• the City has adopted the objective of being fossil fuel free by 2050.

The idea behind the new annual prize for the “European Green Capital” emerged at a meeting in Tallinn, Estonia in 2006, and the prize was launched for the first time by the EU Commission in May 2008. At present the initiative is supported by more than 40 European cities, including 21 capital cities within the EU.