Source: Eltis, Hannah Figg

Four European sustainable mobility champion locations were recently unveiled in Brussels by Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility.

The four awards and victors were; European Mobility Week Award 2021 for larger municipalities, Kassel (Germany); European Mobility Week Award 2021 for smaller municipalities, Valongo (Portugal); the 10th annual Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP), Tampere (Finland); and the EU Road Safety Award, Rethymno (Greece).

European Mobility Week is an annual event, running from 16-22 September. Cities and towns across Europe can take this opportunity to trial new ideas, promote infrastructure and technologies, and track their own air quality. Residents become involved with and begin discussions surrounding sustainable mobility, heralding a social change towards a greener world. The event saw record-breaking levels of participation in 2021 with over 3,100 towns joining the scheme.

Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport, commended the award winners’ and finalists’ achievements, sharing:

“I would like to extend my congratulations to the winners of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards as well as to all finalists. These cities have taken concrete actions to tackle transport emissions, noise, and congestion through innovative actions. With the new EU Urban Mobility Framework, we will support better planning of sustainable urban mobility, putting public transport, walking, and cycling at the core of local authorities’ efforts to improve people’s everyday lives.”

For the full list of finalists, and an in-depth overview of their efforts toward sustainability mobility, view the Eltis coverage of the awards here.