The Municipality of Athens was recognised at the CDP Europe Awards 2021 for its “green recovery” actions in the post-Covid-19 era.
CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts.
The world’s economy looks to CDP as the gold standard of environmental reporting with the richest and most comprehensive dataset on corporate and city action.
In 2020, for the second year in a row, CDP ranked Athens on its Cities A list - alongside 87 other cities from all over the world - for its efforts to reduce gas emissions and confront the impact of climate change.
“At the end of the day, we must be very clear about our strategic goals, and decide whether we want to move backward or forward,” Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis said during a show dedicated to the CDP Europe Awards 2021 on Euronews.
Referring to the covid-19 pandemic, Bakoyannis stated that "this crisis is an opportunity to transform our cities and prepare for a new era of different challenges."
He then stressed the need to find local solutions that will promote and clear public areas and adopt new models of sustainable development, which will not only concern cars, but also to public transport and alternative means of transportation.
"We have to make sure, and this is very important for us in Europe, that we are really changing without losing our souls. We do not want to turn our cities into theme parks, you know, we want to keep our DNA alive."
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