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EU Urban Mobility Observatory
  • News article
  • 16 October 2023
  • 1 min read

Vilnius, Viladecans and Treviso announced as winners of the 2025 European Green City awards

The latest winners of the European Green City Awards have been announced, with Vilnius, Lithuania awarded the 2025 Green Capital award. The European Green Leaf Award, which is for smaller cities, was awarded to Viladecans, Spain and Treviso, Italy for their unique efforts in delivering a green transition for their residents.

The European Green Capital Award was launched in 2010 to encourage cities to become greener, cleaner and improve the quality of life for their residents. Likewise, the European Green Leaf Award was set-up to recognise the environmental goals and actions of smaller towns and cities with a population up to 100,000 inhabitants.

As the capital and largest city in Lithuania, Vilnius was praised by the jury for its down to earth approach and clear pathway towards greening the city. Measures aimed at reducing the city’s local and global emissions were praised, including the increased mix of renewable energy sources and the renovation of heating infrastructure.

Vilnius is one of the 100 cities chosen by the European Commission to reach climate neutrality by 2030, with the city’s decarbonisation efforts intertwined with residents' wellbeing and access to nature. The city is engaged with protecting and enhancing local biodiversity whilst improving residents’ access to green spaces through the Green Wave initiative, which aims to plant 100,000 trees, 10 million shrubs and 300,000 vines within the next few years. The burning of coal and peat will be banned from June 2023 to tackle air pollution, with the local government investing in energy-efficient buildings and monitoring air quality (with information made accessible to residents).

Amongst the smaller cities, the jury were impressed by Viladecans’ approach to promoting behavioural change and involving residents and stakeholders at various levels of the decision-making process, as well as Treviso’s range of innovative approaches to delivering sustainable change such as using gamification to appeal to younger people.

Vilnius was awarded a financial prize of €600,000 to support further measures enhancing the city’s environmental sustainability, with Viladecans and Treviso awarded €200,000 each.

More background information can be found in the European Green Capital Award press kit.

Find out more about the European Green Cities Award, the current and the previous winners here: European Green Capital Award (europa.eu).

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Details

Publication date
16 October 2023
Topic
  • Monitoring and evaluation
Country
  • Europe-wide