Following Thessaloniki’s very positive experience of the candidature for the “Green Capital of Europe” award and the designing and implementation of numerous green initiatives, the city’s administration decided to put forward the establishment of the Greek Green Cities Network. The idea for such a network came through discussions with other municipalities who have also planned and/or implemented green policies, and the ascertainment that improvement of cities environment should come on a grassroot level through cooperation between cities that face similar problems. GCCN aims to address challenges typical to Greek cities, such as the luck of green spaces, pollution, waste management, etc.. The goal will be achieved through information dissemination, exchange of good practices, participation in European programmes, group representation on a national and European level and common strategies development.

There are 10 cities involved in the foundation of GGCN, including Thessaloniki, Athens, Corfu, Trikala, Komotini, Alexandroupoli, Volos, Kozani, Giannena and Kalamata. Additionally, many other municipalities have expressed their will to participate in the network.

We already see the positive results of this initiative, through the mobilization of the cities municipalities and their interest to participate. We expect this mobilization to have a big multiplying effect to other stakeholders and citizens. We also hope to attract institutions, NGOs, Universities, unions and other organizations, so that we will further strengthen the network.

The establishment of the GGCN is kindly supported by the Greek branch of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

For more information please contact the GGCN Project Manager, Vassilis Stamogiannis at [email protected] or at [email protected]