The Galway City Council has published a final report on the city’s European Green Leaf designation by the European Commission, encompassing a wealth of activities which took place in the city throughout 2017 and 2018.
Galway is the first Irish city to be awarded the European Green Leaf and the third city ever to receive the designation. The European Green Leaf Award is open to all towns and cities across Europe with a population of 20,000 up to 100,000 inhabitants. European Green Leaf is a sister initiative of the European Green Capital award for cities demonstrating high environmental standards and a commitment to environmental progress and sustainable development.
Commenting on the publication, Mr Brendan McGrath, chief executive of Galway City Council said; “The award was the culmination of decades of activity in Galway city — by schools, community groups and organisations, volunteers, city councillors, and staff — to enhance and protect the environment which makes Galway city an attractive place to live, work, and play.
“It is our role as the local authority to work with the stakeholders who have protected our environment to date, to ensure we continue to experience a high quality place for our children and future generations to live in. In the context of increased consumption and climate change, these will be challenging demands.
“However, the European Green Leaf award is an indication of how Galway city intends to address these challenges, including climate action, face on, and in partnership with the stakeholders who have safe–guarded the city to date. We wish Limerick city the best of luck with their European Green Leaf designation in 2020”.
The European Green Leaf designation was awarded to Galway city on the basis of a bid covering the themes of climate change and energy performance; mobility; biodiversity and land use; quality of air and the acoustic environment; waste management and green economy; and water and wastewater management. The European Green Leaf Award was a significant achievement for Galway city, and complementary to the city’s subsequent designations of European Region of Gastronomy (2018 ) and European Capital of Culture (2020 ), both of which place a strong emphasis on sustainability.
The report published this week details Galway’s year as European Green Leaf city in 2017 and beyond the designation year in 2018. Galway became chair of the European Green Leaf Network in 2018, and began to build on projects and initiatives commenced in 2017 as part of the designation. The report is thematic in nature, giving a flavour of activity by a broad range of stakeholders and groups.
The report is available for download from www.galwaycity.ie
