The 2020 European Green Capital Award has gone to ICLEI Member Lisbon (Portugal), while the title of 2020 European Green Leaf has been jointly awarded to the cities of Cornellà de Llobregat (Spain) and Horst aan de Maas (The Netherlands).

The announcement was made by the EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, at an awards ceremony in ICLEI Member and current European Green Capital Nijmegen (The Netherlands).

Speaking about the winning cities, Commissioner Vella said: “I am delighted to be awarding Europe’s green city awards for the eleventh time to a new champion of urban sustainability, and for the sixth and seventh time to smaller green cities. As we enter the second decade of the European Green Capital Awards, the initiative has become even more significant than ever. Globally we are faced with enormous environmental challenges. Climate change, overconsumption, plastic waste and biodiversity loss are major threats to our cities and our future. It is heartening and inspiring to see such strong leadership from Lisbon, and other European Green Capital winners. With best practice environmental management, good urban planning, and citizens at the heart of their green transformation, they showed how to turn environmental challenges into opportunities, and make their cities healthy and enjoyable places to stay, live and work in.”

Alongside securing the title of European Green Capital Award winner 2020, Lisbon will also receive €350.000 to kick-start its green capital year.

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