Fourteen years ago, the European Commission created the European Green Capital Award to promote green actions, urban forestry and urban life quality enhancement in European cities
Green cities – Valencia is the 2024 European Green Capital
«Valencia has earned the Green Capital title because of its sustainability strategy, and it has learned from lessons in the past. For many decades, the city has been driven forward by a bold civic movement that sustains genuine change. People are Valencia’s assets. This year will enhance the experiences of citizens and support them even more in delivering the change we all need to achieve for a better future». Said the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius.
This year, the winner of the annual European Commission’s “European Green Capital Award” is the city of Valencia, a coastal town located in the southeastern part of Spain in the center of the homonymous gulf, which is taking over from the Award’s previous the Estonian capital city of Tallinn.
The reasons behind this choice are the Spanish city’s human commitment to sustainable urbanism and the green transition, with ninety-seven percent of the city’s 837,000 inhabitants living no more than 300 meters of green urban areas and its achievements in the restoration of its local natural ecosystems, sustainable mobility initiatives and a fair transition.
European Green Capital Award – responsible urbanism, urban forestry and human commitment to the green transition
The European Green Capital Award was created by the European Commission fourteen years ago to promote green actions and urban life quality enhancement in European cities. Responsible urbanism, urban forestry in Europe is to millions of its citizens’ well-being, as about seventy percent of European Union inhabitants are city and urban dwellers.
Over the years since its establish, the European Green Capital Award has been rewarding the accomplishments in the areas of inclusive green transition and climate neutrality reached by cities with populations above 100,000 inhabitants located in all the regions of the European Union, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Ljubljanica, to the fjords of Scandinavia.
Human commitment in action – green achievements in Valencia
The achievements that made this win possible for the Spanish town resulted from a long-term effort and commitment to responsible urbanism from Valencia’s citizens and leaders.
Valencia and the Valecians have committed to building a sustainable city and have the numbers to show for it. Between 2015 and 2021, the town recovered more than 150,000 m of pedestrian space. In 2016, they established the Residential Priority Area (RPA) by creating Valcia’s first superblock. Since that year, the province has built more than 44 kilometers of segregated cycle lanes.
Now, the Spanish city has 167.4 km of cycle lanes and 33.59 km of cycle streets available for citizens and visitors that they can take to carry out daily activities and reach Valencia’s recreational areas, like the Parc Natural de s’Albufera des Grau, the urban wetland park located just 10 kilometers from the city.
Urban green spaces, urban forestry – the Albufera Natural Park
With a surface area of almost 2,100 hectares and an extension of 14,100 hectares of rice fields, the Albufera, which gives the park its name, is one of the Southern European country’s largest lakes. The Albufera is also recognized as one of the wetlands of international prominence included in the Ramsar list and, since 1994, and it is a Protected Birdlife Reserve (ZEPA).
In this area, habitat and species restoration initiatives have been carried out by the city with the Devesa-Albufera Municipal Service and the Devesa-Albufera Technical Office since the 1980s. Thanks to all of these efforts and the city’s human commitment to improving urban forestry, preserving urban green spaces, the dune ecosystem and its temporary wetlands have been restored along 14 km of shoreline in the Devesa between 1999 and 2020.
Water efficacy for sustainable cities – Valencia’s projects
Water has been central to several of the city’s projects and efforts to create a clean, sustainable city. 100% of the city’s water supply is subjected to remote measuring, covering all parts of the town. Valencia is also the first city in the world to calculate the water footprint of tourism.
Thanks to the smart measuring system, Valencia is the European city with the highest efficiency rate, eighty-seven percent, in terms of water supply, and it plans to achieve total decarbonization in managing its water cycle.
In addition to improving the water cycle management in the water supply and wastewater treatment systems, the city has provided a mechanism for citizen participation in reducing water consumption-related waste.
In the Pusdar Project (2020-2022), the city installed eighteen cold-water drinking fountains across Valencia where its residents and visitors can refill their water bottles for personal use.
Urban Forestry: making a city green – Valencia’s plan for 2030
The València 2030 Climate Mission was authorized by the Municipal Plenary in 2021 to transform València into a climate-neutral city by and for its residents by 2030. The mission strives to create a more sustainable and health-conscious city as part of the town’s 2030 Urban Strategy.
The city of Valencia has the goal of increasing energy efficiency by twenty-seven percent by 2030. The city has set another goal by that year: raising the amount of energy used from renewable sources by twenty-seven percent.
Valencia has also decided to join the European Mission 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities for 2030 at the January 2022 Municipal Plenary with the intent of gaining the advantages of being selected as one of the towns that fully commits to the mission and the objective of becoming climate neutral by 2030.
Valencia’s secret ingredient for sustainable urbanism and urban forestry: citizen involvement
Valencia climate action blends attention to environmental concerns with sociological ones thanks to a strong emphasis on its people. Because of this, many of the projects and achievements that have won the city its European Green Capital Award involved citizen participation.
One of them is the Requiem in Power project, which consists of installing solar panels on the roofs of the niches in the city’s municipal cemeteries of València. With its 7,000 solar panels, Requiem in Power would become Spain’s most extensive public urban solar plant. It would generate a total of two-point-eight MW of power, and this energy will be mostly offered to Valencia’s citizens to encourage collective self-consumption schemes.
Parts of the city’s collective journey towards building an environmentally and socially sustainable city are the several awareness campaigns and volunteering initiatives the city has promoted, such as the València Canvia Pel Clima citizen initiative to raise awareness about the energy transition and the Pensem la plaça – Rethinking our square competition, an open call to select the project to pedestrianize the City Hall Square.
Valencia’s 2024 as the European Green Capital – urban forestry
Valencia kicked off its year as the European Green Capital with an opening ceremony this January. Still, more activities and events will be taking place in the Spanish city for the rest of 2024, with more than 400 activities and events targeted to the city’s residents and specialized audiences.
«A special 2024 is being prepared in Valencia. From the celebration of the new year in the town hall square, the entire city will participate in a Green Capital program loaded with sustainability and culture. There will be an opening ceremony in mid-January and in our main festivals – the Fallas and the July Fair – the Green Capital will be the protagonist.
Throughout the city, actions and events related to our strengths, green infrastructure and biodiversity, climate action, the walking and cycling city, and our garden and sustainable food will be highlighted. You can’t miss it, come to Valencia». The Director General of the European Green Capital project in Valencia, Antonio García, stated about the city’s plan for its year as the European Green Capital.
