Eight cities have been shortlisted by the European Commission for the final stage of the 2028 European Green Capital and European Green Leaf Awards, with winners due to be announced on 8 October in Guimarães, Portugal.
The awards recognise cities for work on urban sustainability, and the Commission disclosed in a release on Wednesday that 27 eligible applicants applied this year.
Five cities are in contention for the 2028 European Green Capital title, which is open to cities with more than 100,000 residents: Aalborg in Denmark, Bielsko-Biała in Poland, Košice in Slovakia, Porto in Portugal and Zaragoza in Spain.
Three smaller cities have been selected as finalists for the 2028 European Green Leaf award, which is for places with populations between 20,000 and 100,000: Benidorm and Chiclana de la Frontera in Spain, and Estarreja in Portugal.
How the finalists were chosen
A panel of independent experts assessed applications in a first round and shortlisted the finalists, the Commission said.
Cities were evaluated across seven areas: air quality, water management, biodiversity and green areas, waste and the circular economy, noise pollution, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation.
The second and final stage will take place on 7 and 8 October, when finalist cities will present their environmental vision, governance and communication plans to a jury.
The European Green Capital winner will receive €600,000, while one or two European Green Leaf winners will each receive €200,000.
