Guimarães was elected European Green Capital 2026. The prize was awarded in Valencia, Spain, the city that holds the distinction of European Green Capital 2024.
It is the second Portuguese city to win the title. The Portuguese city was competing against Heilbronn (Germany) and Klagenfurt (Austria) and has now become the winner, after having been one of the three finalists last year. As part of the award, the municipality of Guimarães will receive financial support that will be applied to sustainability projects and initiatives, within the scope of the strategy carried out by the municipality.
Throughout the various stages of the award, the panel responsible for assessing the candidates for European Green Capital 2026, made up of seven independent experts, singled out Guimarães for its performance in seven environmental parameters – “air quality”; “noise”; “water”; “biodiversity, green areas and land use”; “waste and circular economy”; “climate change: mitigation; and “climate change: adaptation” – recognizing the municipality’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability.
Guimarães submitted its first application for the award in 2017 – coming fifth out of 13 competing cities.Guimarães will now become European Green Capital 2026 – the second Portuguese city to win the title, after Lisbon (2020) – and will continue with projects to revitalize the city, promote new initiatives aimed at climate neutrality by 2030, as well as initiatives to improve land conditions, waste management and biodiversity protection.
The European Green Capital award is given annually to European cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants that distinguish themselves in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability. The award is the result of a rigorous selection process, during which candidate cities must present arguments and evidence of what has already been implemented and what still needs to be done to become more sustainable.