Together with Grenoble European Green Capital 2022

2022 is going to be a great year for our French member Grenoble. They will be the European Green Capital, a big recognition that arrived after years of stable commitment and actions towards the ecological transition. Many of these actions might be familiar to you already, as lately we showcased them in Energy Cities’ blog and publications, hoping to inspire fellow cities to follow a similar path.

You can see some success stories from Grenoble on their member page on our website.

What does Grenoble have in the pipeline for 2022?

For the city, 2022 will be the year to “amplify the transition”. The Green Capital base camp is hosted at the Bastille, one of the symbols of Grenoble, a 19th century military fort overlooking the city and providing a breath-taking view on the Alps. It is a place where history, nature and culture are valued by locals and tourists, home to several museums but also an important site for biodiversity preservation.

In 2022, Grenoble city council, Grenoble Alpes Metropole and the Department of Isère will continue their efforts by:

• Planting 1,000 trees by 2022 and several thousand more in the years to come, to achieve a canopy. In addition, they are going to launch a “one tree, one inhabitant” plan for the Department of Isère.
• Launching the cooperative urban farm project, GRANDALPE, in the Villeneuve district.
• Making the district of Sainte Claire pedestrian.
• Renovating the Hôtel du Département, the central head office of the Department of Isère in the city centre, with the goal of halving the energy consumption of this 1970s building.
• Developing 11 new cool areas in Grenoble and creating new, more ergonomic fountains in public areas.
• Extending the food waste collection programme to 450,000 inhabitants of the Grenoble metropolitan area.

They aim at involving the local population even more, together with the institutional, cultural, scientific, economic and charity community. All the region’s stakeholders are invited to contribute – several different options will be possible.

Over the year, the city will highlight a specific theme each month and launch challenges to the local community, from companies to individuals, charities, and institutions. For example, January will be the month of climate, and everyone is invited to take action to reduce their carbon footprint; February will be the month of air, and the city invited the companies to focus on making their deliveries more sustainable.

More than 200 events are in the agenda for 2022! The city wishes to host discussions on the challenges, but also celebrate its achievements. Events will be organised around 3 pillars: citizen participation, culture, and sciences and will start with the online opening ceremony at the Bastille on January 15^th. Local and regional stakeholders can propose events to be labelled as part of the Grenoble Green Capital programme and a green booster fund of €400,000 has been created for charities that want to propose a specific European Green Capital event.

Stay tuned to discover more about the programme in the following weeks!