Greening cities: will the success or failure of the Green Deal be decided on our streets?

With two-thirds of Europeans living in urban areas, the way we shape our streets, parks and public spaces has a direct impact on health and quality of life.

Take air pollution: fine particles are still the biggest environmental health threat in Europe, causing around 300,000 premature deaths every year. The EU has pledged to cut this number by 55% by 2030, but reaching that target depends on local action — on mayors, councils and communities making the change.

In Europe, the main environmental threat to our health is fine particulate pollution, which causes around 300,000 premature deaths each year. The European Union has committed to reducing this figure by 55% by 2030.

As in this case, action by local authorities is often essential to achieve European environmental targets such as:

• The Zero Pollution Action Plan → cleaner air, water and soil.
• The Biodiversity Strategy → bringing back green spaces in urban areas.
• The Water Resilience Strategy → helping cities capture and reuse rainwater.
• The Clean Industrial Deal → driving Europe’s circular economy.

Building resilience

The quality of life of two-thirds of Europeans living in cities also increasingly depends on the ability to cope with extreme events such as heat waves and rainstorms. Faced with these hazards, urban areas are aiming to adapt and mitigate climate change.

In this episode, you will see how Lisbon’s massive drainage plan combines underground tunnels to store and channel rainwater with new green areas that absorb it naturally.

We also travel to Lahti (Finland), where the target is carbon neutrality by 2028. Thanks to close cooperation between the city and local businesses, the circular economy hotspot has managed to slash its emissions by 60–70% compared to 1990 levels.

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Green pioneers

Lahti and Lisbon are among the ‘100 climate-neutral and smart cities in 2030’, testbeds for achieving full carbon neutrality across Europe by 2050.

Both also hold the prestigious title of European Green Capital, awarded each year to a city of over 100,000 people that shows real leadership in sustainability.

Since 2020, the EU has also been coordinating the Green City Accord (GCA), a voluntary platform helping cities to put Green Deal goals into action. The priority areas are:

• Aligning air quality with WHO and EU standards.  
• Improving water quality and efficiency.  
• Restoring urban ecosystems.  
• More recycling, reuse and repair.  
• Less noise pollution

The European Union also funds numerous urban projects through a series of mechanisms, such as the LIFE environmental programme.