European Green Capital Ezine 11

Bristol wins European Green Capital 2015! Welcome to the 11th issue of the European Green Capital Award’s Ezine, with the exciting news of the winner for the European Green Capital 2015. Bristol has been crowned European Green Capital 2015, as announced at the Award Ceremony hosted by the current European Green Capital, Nantes, Friday evening, 14th June 2013. For Bristol, it is third time lucky as the British green city entered the European Green Capital Award for the third time this year. It is a testament to the city and its citizens that its years of hard work have finally paid off resulting in the achievement of this prestigious European recognition. Mayor of Bristol, Mr. George Ferguson being presented with the award for European Green Capital 2015 by Commissioner Potočnik Commissioner Potočnik said: "Congratulations to Bristol for the example they are setting. We have much to learn from these efforts to improve the environment and quality of life for citizens, whilst creating new business opportunities, and I look forward to their year as European Green Capital. They will have numerous occasions to showcase their expertise and their creative approach to engaging with citizens and to developing a green economy." Bristol was shortlisted alongside Brussels, Glasgow and Ljubljana. Each city was shortlisted for the award in its own unique way. For more details you can read the Expert Panel Technical Assessment Report here. The Jury had a tough challenge in selecting an overall winner from such a high standard of applicants. The Jury Report can be read here. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all shortlisted cities and invite the unsuccessful cities to apply again in 2016. Click here to read the press release in EN, DE, and FR. WILL YOUR CITY BE THE 2016 EUROPEAN GREEN CAPITAL? Now that the 2015 European Green Capital has been announced, it is the perfect time to follow in Bristol’s green footprints and start thinking about your application for the 2016 European Green Capital. For the first time, cities across Europe with more than 100,000 inhabitants can apply for the title. Previously only cities with a inhabitants of 200,000 or more were eligible; this now opens the award up to over 400 cities across Europe. There are lots of benefits to be gained by applying and winning the Award, click here to read the experiences and benefits gained by one of our winning cities- Vitoria-Gasteiz (European Green Capital 2012). The competition to become European Green Capital 2016 opened on the 17th June 2013 and the closing date will be 17th October 2013. To see what it takes to become a European Green Capital, please view the Will your City? leaflet in English by clicking here. It is also available in all official European languages here. Click here to read the press release. Come join us at the 2016 Applicant Workshop on 30th August in Brussels. Following the success of the 2015 Applicant Workshop last year, the European Green Capital Award Secretariat will host an Applicant Workshop for potential applicant cities on the 30th August 2013 at the DG Environment offices in Brussels. Shortlisted Cities Workshop in Nantes, June 2013 The workshop will provide advice on how to successfully complete the 2016 Application Form and will also discuss the benefits of being a winning city and being an applicant city, the use of social media and also launch the Good Practice report. The workshop will also include an overview of the new EGCA Community, an initiative of Copenhagen (European Green Capital 2015) and allow cities sufficient networking and questions time. To read more about the event click here The ECOCITY World Summit will take place from 25th - 7th September in Nantes, the current European Green Capital  ECOCITY, the World Summit on Sustainable Cities organised in partnership with the ECOCITY BUILDERS and all the city stakeholders' network, will be held in Nantes from 25th - 27th September 2013. It will be the highlight of Nantes' year as European Green Capital 2013. The programme of ECOCITY 2013 sets out 4 priority challenges for sustainable cities: financing, governing, thinking and shaping. The city of Nantes David Plard© The pre-programme for the summit is now available to download here. Keynote speakers who will be in attendance at this event include European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik, Ronan Dantec, United Cities & Local Governments (UCLG) and David Cadman, President of ICLEI among others.  Registration is now open and early bird bookers who register before 30th June will benefit from a reduced rate. To register please click here. To read more about the event click here.  UPCOMING EVENTS 24-28 June Brussels, Belgium EU Sustainable Energy Week 26-27 June Cardiff, Wales Wetlands for Water Management Conference 26-28 June Prague, Czech Republic Central Europe towards Sustainable Building Prague 2013 (CESB13) 3-5 July Cascais, Portugal Citizenship for Sustainability 4-7 July Brighton, UK Sustainability, Society and the Environment: Searching for Synergies 18-22 July A Coruña, Spain 3rd International Conference on Disaster Management and Human Health: Reducing Risk, Improving Outcomes 18-22 July Oxford, UK Green Economics Conference 2013 30 August Brussels, Belgium 2016 EGCA Applicant Workshop 4-6 September New Forest, UK 2nd International Conference on Water and Society 9-13 September Nantes, France World Green Infrastructure Congress 25-27 September Nantes, France Ecocity Summit 17 October Europe-wide Closing date for the 2016 European Green Capital Award