LONDON: Lviv, the cultural capital of Ukraine and the largest municipality in the west of the country has won the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (ERDB) Gold Award for Sustainability, Environmental and Social Best Practices.
The city joined the EBRD’s Green Cities programme in February 2019, and in just one year achieved remarkable results in building a greener and more sustainable city for its 720 thousand residents.
The Green City programme is focused on solving key environmental concerns of cities and regions by developing and implementing sustainable projects in partnership with municipalities, policy makers and regional businesses.
Lviv’s municipal services worked closely with EBRD’s team to identify and implement strategic and environment-focussed municipal projects such as improving solid waste and wastewater management, water supply, district heating of buildings, public transport and e-ticketing, biogas production, roads rehabilitation and land use.
Lviv has shown other municipalities of Ukraine that a lot of progress can be achieved in just one year through public and private sector collaboration.
By prioritising environmental and social innovation, the city is one of the first in the country to voluntarily reduce its CO2 emissions as part of the EU Covenant of Mayors by limiting vehicle traffic, developing cycling and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure in the city itself and in the region as a whole.
Upon full completion of the project, the city is expected to reduce its CO2 emission by 360 thousand tons per annum, which is equivalent to planting 5.9 million trees or taking 76,000 cars off the road.
We hope that Lviv’s significant achievements will inspire other regions of Ukraine to place environmental and social innovation at the top of its agendas going forward.
