Cagliari: the city is a candidate for the title of European green capital 2023
Mayor Paolo Truzzu announced that Cagliari is a candidate of European Green Capital 2023 in a long post on Facebook.
Paolo Truzzu, mayor of Cagliari, chose Facebook to announce the cities application of the European Green Capital 2023 prize: “soon we will start building the dossier to analyse the state of the art and project shaping to take on for the high-level objective, involving the best experts (not only technical but those who also have a more general view of the role of urban agglomerations) to be top of the list in Italy and Europe” wrote the mayor and added, “today our city has many green areas: parks, spaces, public gardens, a medium of square metres per citizen making other Italian cities envious. There is a good quality of life and an “urban green” philosophy which is now of common knowledge. I quote architect Kipar by saying: “the green is the dress, the ground is the body, the water running through is the soul”.
The municipality administration is aiming at “(…) a town with less fossil fuel energy consumption and more renewable energy, improve recycling water, alternative and electric mobility, the transformation of collected waste, rational illumination, (…) a city with healthier air.
Working on the beauty of the city includes green planning, says Truzzu, therefore the Giunta has decided to candidate the island’s chief town as Green Capital for 2023.
Caressed by the Mediterranean climate, embraced by one of the most beautiful seas in the world, crossed by thousands of years of history and holding a naturalistic and historical-cultural heritage, Cagliari has all the right cards to win the podium and acquire the title.
Cagliari: what is the European Green Capital prize
Cagliari is among the cities candidate for the European green capital 2023, the recognition given out by the European Commission every year prizes cities which have reached ambitious objectives in terms of environmental protection and economic sustainable development.
The prize began on the 15th of May 2006 under the initiative of ex-mayor of Tallin, capital of the Republic of Estonia and city of great ecological attention. Here 15 European cities and the association of Estonian cities signed a memorandum of understanding on the institution of the prize.
According to Janez Potočnik, ex European commissioner for the environment, the glamorous recognition “is an incentive to convince local authorities that a radiant future lies within sustainable urban development” and wants to prove “how investments in the sector of environmental protection can be changed with an economical growth and greater well-being”
Here are the three main objectives of the prize based on what is reported on the official site of the European Union:
- Compensate cities which have regularly achieved important environmental objectives
- Stimulate the cities to focus on ambitious initiatives to improve the environment and sustainable development
- Provide a model of inspiration for other cities and promote the best praxis and experiences in all other European cities.
The candidates are evaluated according to 12 parameters:
- The local contribution to global climate change
- Transport
- Green urban areas
- Noise
- Production and management of waste
- Nature and biodiversity
- air
- Consumption of water
- Treatment of water waste
- Eco-innovation and sustainable occupation
- Environmental management by local authorities
- energetic performance
The prize is open to all 27 country members, to countries entering the European Union (Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey) and to those in the European Economic Area (EEA). European cities can apply if they have over 100.000 inhabitants and can provide a dossier describing the present state, the measures taken on during the past years, the mid-long period objectives and how they intend to reach them.
The prize is given out by an international jury sided by a group of world-famous experts belonging to various environmental sectors.
“Europe is today an urban society of which 5 fifths of the inhabitants live in cities and towns – it says on the official site of the European Union – most of the environmental challenges we need to face originate in urban areas which gather innovation and effort to solve them. The prize “European Green Capital” was conceived as an initiative to promote and compensate efforts, encourage cities to act, illustrate the best practices and encourage exchange between European cities”.
Since the success of the prize in 2015, the European Commission has also established the European Green LeafAward so to reward all European cities holding between 200.000 and 100.000 inhabitants, distinguished by their effort and use of environmentally sustainable practices.
The European Green Leaf Award, just like its older brother, has three objectives:
- Recognise the cities demonstrating a good environmental reputation and effort in generating a green growth
- Encourage the cities in actively developing awareness and environmental involvement on behalf of the inhabitants
- Identify the cities able of acting as “green ambassador” and encourage other cities to progress and have better sustainable results.
