Bristol has been chosen as the only city in the UK to be short-listed for the European Green Capital Award. The city has been pre-selected alongside seven other European top environmental cities out of 35 initial applications.
The seven other cities are: Amsterdam (Netherlands); Copenhagen (Denmark); Freiburg (Germany); Hamburg (Germany); Munster (Germany); Oslo (Norway); Stockholm (Sweden).
The European Green Capital Award aims to help cities become more attractive and healthy places, “fit for life” – and is similar to the European Capital of Culture competition. Every year from 2010 a European city will be appointed as European Green Capital by a panel of international recognised environmental experts and a jury. The award will be given to a city that has demonstrated a well-established record achieving high environmental standards and is committed to further environmental improvement and sustainable development. The winning city will act as a role model for all other European cities.
For the second evaluation round, the eight short-listed cities will be assessed by the panel who will then present its recommendations to the jury, which will then take the final decision. The announcement of the first two European Green Capitals for 2010 and 2011 will be made at a ceremony planned for early 2009.
