Hamburg was awarded the title “European Green Capital 2011″ by the European Union Commission in Brussels on Feb. 23, 2009, a title that was created this year as an analogy to the successful “European Cultural Capital” program. The title will be held by Stockholm in 2010.

“It is a great honor for Hamburg that we are one of the first two cities to hold the title of European Green Capital”, said Environment Senator Anja Hajduk. “The standard of international competition was very high, with the finalists including Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Oslo. We have made it clear by our candidacy that economic development and environmental protection certainly do go together.”

Selection was made in a two-stage process with an expert Evaluation Panel that assessed the candidate cities by specialist criteria and a Jury that ultimately made the decision.