At the European Commission's high-level hybrid ceremony of signing the Green City Accord, city leaders from across Europe reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable urban development. The main principle of the Green City Accord is to accelerate green transition in the EU cities.

Photo: Kaupo Kalda

Today, on 22 September, mayors from across Europe celebrated more than 60 cities commitment to ambitious environmental protection goals. The ceremony was opened by Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries.  

Mayors, Deputy Mayors and the European Commissioner signed the Green City Accord both in Brussels and online. After signature, each Mayor explained briefly why the city joined the Green City Accord and what the city plans to achieve in the next years through the GCA commitment.

The Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart said in his speech that green and digital transition require major changes in visions and policies of European cities. “It is not wise to make these major changes piece by piece, the approach must be systematic, structured, and wholesome. European Green City Accord is a good tool for cities for this systematic approach. It helps us to set more concrete goals in different areas, there are common indicators for measuring development processes and make changes in them if necessary,” added Kõlvart.

The Mayor also introduced one of Tallinn’s main objectives as the European Green Capital: “One of our main ideas as a Green Capital in 2023 is to create an international green governance competence hub in Tallinn that will gather and analyse information, work out, pilot and propose different governance models for cities in the process of green transition. Facing the challenges is easier when you are not alone.”

During an interactive session of the ceremony, the spotlight was put on some of the successful local policies for protecting the European environment and on identifying the key success factors and challenges for their wider deployment.

Tallinn signed the European Green City Accord on April 8, 2021. On September 9, 2021, Tallinn was declared the European Green Capital 2023.