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Sheffield hosts EUROCITIES and UK Environment Events
A recent environmental conference provided a great opportunity to showcase Sheffield to senior delegates from major cities across Europe.
Eurocities is a group consisting of 130 major cities from across Europe. As part of this there are a number of working groups which share best practice and knowledge across all sectors including health, the environment and economic issues.
Sheffield City Council’s Director of Environment and Regulatory Services and of Sheffield First Environment Partnership, Gary McGrogan, was instrumental in bringing the EUROCITIES Environmental Forum to Sheffield.
The groundbreaking Forum includes environmental experts from cities across Europe such as Belfast, Göteborg, Helsinki, Munich, Stockholm and Vienna as well as Leeds and Newcastle.
The Forum supports the sharing of best-practice among cities facing similar challenges. Members are developing practical ways to integrate environmental considerations into local-decision making and urban planning.
After earlier meetings in Strasbourg and Brussels, the Sheffield EUROCITIES event focused on key environmental issues including air quality, water management and green urban areas.
This is the second year Sheffield has hosted a EUROCITIES event. Last year it was strategically arranged to coincide with DLA Piper's Cooling the Planet conference where around 1,000 delegates from across the globe heard former US Vice President Al Gore make the keynote address.
This year during the same week, a UK debate on Sustainable Cities was held in Sheffield, hosted by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy UK and Shell UK, reflecting the vital role cities have in creating a low carbon economy.
Representatives from cities across the EU and UK came to Sheffield to engage in these events, placing Sheffield at the heart of these debates.