Sofia is among the finalists for the “Green Capital of Europe” competition

15 July, 2021


In October 2020, Sofia Municipality, together with 15 other municipal administrations from all over Europe, took part in the “European Green Capital 2023” competition. European Commission experts ranked Sofia among the finalists, with the other cities in the final round being Tallinn (Estonia), Krakow (Poland) and Helsingborg (Sweden).

The final of the competition will take place on September 9th, 2021, in the Finnish city of Lahti.

Each year, a group of independent urban sustainability experts evaluates the performance of competing cities against 12 environmental indicators and selects its finalists. The award is given to a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants, which applies successful models for the development of ecological urban life. Cities that are not of this size can compete for the European Green Leaf Award, which in 2021. the town of Gabrovo was awarded.

The European Commission launched the competition in 2008 with the aim of encouraging local authorities across Europe to reduce the negative impact of the urban environment on the health of their residents and to integrate high environmental standards into their governance. Since 2010 the competition has held an annual selection, as a result of which a European city is chosen as the European Green Capital of the year.

The message of the initiative is – “Green cities – fit for life!”. The cities awarded in previous years, you can see here.

The award is given to a city that:

  • Has constant experience in achieving high environmental standards
  • Committed to current and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development
  • Can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practices in all other European cities

A detailed technical assessment is carried out for each candidate in the competition and is based on environmental indicators covering climate change, sustainable urban mobility, air quality, nature and biodiversity, sustainable land use, acoustic environment, waste, water, green growth and eco-innovation, and other.