Reykjavík is currently competing with several European cities to be the European Green Capital of 2012 or 2013.
Of the seventeen cities that originally joined the competition, only six have made it to this round. Apart from our capital, there is also Barcelona and Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain, Malmö in Sweden, Nantes in France and Nuremburg in Germany. Of these six, only two will move forward to the final round of judging. The final results are to come out in the fall.
The judges have been appointed by the European Union and, according to the article on this stage of the competition, “Applicant cities have been asked to provide information on a variety of indicator areas with regard to their present environmental status and results, what they are doing to improve the urban living conditions, their future initiatives and dissemination plans. Over the coming months, the 6 finalists will be asked to submit further details to support their applications.”.
It probably goes without saying that Reykjavík will be putting emphasis on our use of clean, renewable energy. But there’s still a long way to go – recycling services are abysmal, over 50% of city land is devoted to the car in the form of roads and parking spaces, “clean” transportation is virtually non-existent in favor of car traffic, and air pollution in the spring is a real problem as people continue using spiked winter tires after the ice has melted.