Towns are given the Green Capital award when the environment plays an important role in their zoning. Vitoria-Gasteiz managed to bring greenery to the city and Nantes has introduced an environmentally friendly transport policy.

The award is a good promotion for the cities as it makes them more attractive for tourists.

Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz and French city of Nantes have been named the winners of the European Green Capital award for 2012 and 2013. The European Green Capital award is given to the cities where the environment plays an important role in their zoning. The goal of the European Commission is to make the cities, which promote such policy, more visible. Such cities are also more popular among tourists.

Slovak server Cestovanie.sk reported that the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz has managed to bring greenery to the city. Now, a green belt surrounds the city and makes the living there more pleasant. The city also took a number of measures to improve its biodiversity. Fauna and flora is monitored and the authorities also want to lower the fragmentation of biotope. They have invested in a lot of projects in order to improve the water supply and the water quality. Their goal is to decrease water losses and to reduce water consumption of households to less than 100 liters per person per day.

The sixth larges French city, Nantes, was successful in zoning. The city has an integrated and sustainable transport policy focusing on public transport and cycling. It is also the first French city that managed to re-establish its tramway network. The ambitious transport policy helped to reduce the air pollution. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 24 percent by 2020. The authorities have also initiated an experimental garden which should help improve health of the city residents. The scientists watch the amount of pollen in the air there and warn against any possible allergy risk.