What’s Europe’s greenest capital? There’s no easy answer to that question but, since 2010, there has been an award organised by the European Commission that compares the environmental policies and the concrete efforts of candidate cities, allowing objective and stimulating conclusions to be drawn.
The European Green Capital Award
Have you ever heard of the European Green Capital Award? This award has been set up for European cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants to which a financial incentive is given from year to year which must be invested in strictly green projects. There is also a competition for smaller cities numbering from 20,000 to 99,999 inhabitants called EuropeanHYPERLINK Award.
The European Commission judges the candidate cities using various parameters such as the efforts and enthusiasm invested in creating and presenting the projects, the ability to become a role model for other cities and the excellent communication methods used to present their projects as well as the degree of involvement of city-dwellers and institutions at various levels.
The award for 2019 goes (deservedly) to Oslo.
The greenest capital in 2019
It definitely comes as no surprise that Oslo is attentive to ecology but this city keeps on amazing onlookers by setting continuously new goals to fight climate change. Although it numbers more than 650,000 inhabitants, it is capable of important results thanks to specific political choices, particularly in the field of public transport.
This Norwegian capital has earned itself the name of the greenest European capital in 2019 particularly because of the ambitious goals it has set for itself to reduce environmental pollution caused by transport. By 2020 Oslo wants to reduce its emissions by 36% compared to those recorded in 1990.
This date may seem too close, too optimistic, almost an unattainable dream. Nevertheless, this city knows exactly what to do to achieve its goal, starting from the fact that by 2020 all its public transport vehicles (including taxis!) will produce zero emissions.
Moreover, the political choice to offer incentives to purchase electric, hybrid or hydrogen cars has been starting to yield positive results for quite a while now. There are more than 1,300 charging station and there are also free parking and credit facilities for anyone who makes this choice. What’s the result? More than 60% of the new cars currently purchased by Oslo residents are ecological.
But initiatives don’t stop here. In 2019 the centre of Oslo will become a no-traffic zone thanks to extensive work to expand walkways and cycling lanes. In other words, Oslo is a real model city and we truly hope that its ecological choices will soon become trends.
