Lisbon, Porto and Cascais are among 12 European towns and cities that have applied to become 2017’s ‘European Green Capital’ – an award considered a mark of excellence for centres that cherish their environment.
The winning locations will be shortlisted after a panel of international experts analyse indicators such as “air quality, energy performance and water management”.
An overall winner will then be announced during a ceremony in June 2015 in Bristol (UK) which has already been named ‘European Green Capital 2015’.
Since its inception in 2010, seven towns and cities have been awarded the title. Stockholm (Sweden) was the first, followed by Hamburg (Germany) in 2011, Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) in 2012 and Nantes (France) in 2013.
Copenhagen (Denmark) is the current Green Capital, while Bristol (UK) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) have been chosen as ‘European Green Capitals’ for 2015 and 2016.
The full list of applicants for 2017 is as follows:
• Bursa (Turkey)
• Cascais (Portugal)
• Cork (Ireland)
• Essen (Germany)
• ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands)
• Istanbul (Turkey)
• Lahti (Finland)
• Lisbon (Portugal)
• Nijmegen (Netherlands)
• Pécs (Hungary)
• Porto (Portugal)
• Umeå (Sweden)
