Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart met with Patrick Child, the EU Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Environment
Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart met today in Brussels with Patrick Child, the EU Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Environment, to focus on the implementation of the European Green Deal for cities and related European initiatives.
According to Patrick Child, Deputy Director-General for Environment, the objectives of the European Green Capital are much broader than the mission of climate-neutral cities. “Thus, the European Green Capital will also include nature conservation, urban green spaces and biodiversity,” said Child. “Cities therefore have a very important role to play in the implementation of the European Green Deal, and Tallinn, as the European Green Capital 2023, will play an advocacy role.”
Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart added that Tallinn’s goal is to be the representative of all Green Capitals of Europe during 2023. “In the same way, we want to strengthen the work of the network of all Green Capitals and launch a Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Governance. Today’s meeting was also a confirmation that our cooperation with the European Commission will be very close and meaningful,” said Kõlvart.
Next year’s Tallinn European Green Capital Action Plan was also discussed, with support for green innovation as one of Tallinn’s priorities, as well as the European CleanTech Forum and the Green Technologies EXPO to be held in Tallinn next November.