Grenoble kicks off European Green Capital year on 15 January

Learn more about the programme and the 12 challenges for 2022

On Saturday, 15 January, Grenoble will officially launch its year as the European Green Capital for 2022. The French city and Grenoble-Alpes Métropole will partner up with the Isère department, the French government and the European Commission for an event that lives up to the occasion of being Europe’s most deserving city in terms of environmental protection.

See an outline of the programme below.

European Green Capital 2022 official programme launch

The inauguration programme of Grenoble – European Green Capital 2022 begins with a thought for the youngest audiences. From 10:00 to 16:00, an Escape Game designed around the 12 themes of this year’s programme will take place.

Several two-hour tours across the city will take children (and whoever is interested), on an exploration of its treasures, but most of all – on a mission against Doctor Azote. He's a villain who loves factory smoke and garbage and seeks to rule the city at all costs by setting up challenges all over Grenoble.

The challenges are related to the topics of air, climate, energy, food and agriculture, health, inequalities, living in the city of the future, mobility, nature and biodiversity, producing and consuming differently, waste, water. Having in mind these themes, Grenoble issues an invitation to individuals and institutions to commit to taking concrete actions in 2022 to improve the climate.

14:00 to 15:00 will be the time for a citizens' dialogue with the participation of young ambassadors. The people will talk live on social media with Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Éric Piolle, Mayor of Grenoble and Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Finally, starting at 16:30, there will be the official handover of the “Greenbook” from the past European Green Capital Lahti to the new one. Restricted to the public, the ceremony will be transmitted live on the campaign’s website.

As TheMayor.EU previously reported, Grenoble was pronounced the winner in the European Green Capital competition back in October 2020. Each year, since 2010, this title has been awarded to cities committed to the environmental transition which are pioneers in terms of climate-friendly lifestyles. More information on the programme for this year is available on the official website of Green Grenoble 2022.

The French city will be joined by Gabrovo (Bulgaria) and Lappeenranta (Finland) - the two winners in the European Green Leaf 2021 category, which is meant for cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants.