Green City Accord Target Areas
Signatory cities will commit to tackling the most urgent environmental challenges facing their cities. By joining the Accord, mayors agree to step up their efforts in five key areas by 2030:
- air: significant improvement in air quality by moving closer to respecting the WHO’s air quality guidelines and ending exceedances of EU air quality standards as soon as possible
- water: making significant progress in improving the quality of water bodies and the efficiency of water use
- nature and biodiversity: considerable progress in conserving and enhancing urban biodiversity, including through an increase in the extent and quality of green areas in cities, and by halting the loss of and restoring urban ecosystems
- circular economy and waste: advance towards the circular economy by securing a significant improvement in the management of household municipal waste, an important reduction in waste generation and landfilling, and a substantial increase in re-use, repair and recycling
- noise: significantly reducing noise pollution in cities and moving closer to WHO recommended levels
Key Commitments for Signatories
- Setting ambitious targets
Signatories will establish baseline levels and set ambitious targets that go beyond minimum requirements set by EU laws within two years of signing.
- Implementing policies
Signatories will implement policies and programmes in an integrated manner, to achieve their targets by 2030.
- Reporting
Reports on implementation and progress will be created every three years by signatories.
Mandatory Indicators
After signing the Accord, the city has two years to submit a first report. This report should contain:
- Information on the baseline situation (e.g. levels of relevant pollutants at the time of joining the Accord) in each of the five areas, including data on the common GCA indicators (see below)
- The targets which the city has set for itself to meet by 2030 (these targets may be qualitative or quantitative)
- An overview of the next steps (measures and actions) the city intends to take in order to achieve the targets
From then on, the city is required to report on progress every three years through an easy-to-use online tool (currently under preparation).
To monitor progress towards the Green City Accord’s objectives and allow for comparability across cities, a small set of mandatory indicators has been established. All signatories will use these indicators for reporting purposes.
You’ll find here a quick overview of all mandatory indicators.
A more comprehensive version with further details is available in your language from the menu below.
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Cities will be allowed to use existing data and other reporting requirements that they are already engaged in. For instance, a city that reports regularly on air pollution, in the framework of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, or alternatively in the framework of another city action plan or a national government programme, could re-use such information or data to fulfil these reporting requirements.
In addition, the following essential guidebook offers detailed information about the measurement and calculation of the mandatory indicators for each of the five areas covered by the Green City Accord: air, water, nature & biodiversity, waste & circular economy, and noise.
Reporting Timeline
- Signatories in 2020 and 2021
Signatory cities that joined in 2020 and 2021 will have to submit a Baseline report by 15 December 2023.
- Signatories after 2021
Signatories that joined after 2021 should submit a baseline report two years after formally joining or latest by 15 December of the same year (e. g. if the city joined in February 2023, it should submit the Baseline report by December 2025).