A new strategy aimed at helping European cities improve their urban environment has been launched by the European Commission this month.

Forming part of the 6th Environmental Action Programme, the Strategy aims to help local authorities with the implementation of EU environmental policies and legislation by promoting the exchange of experience and good practice.

The Commission believes that many of the opportunities and resources to tackle environmental challenges that are currently available are being missed by policy-makers at local authority level.  It is therefore hoping to address this problem through information exchange as well as the provision of online resources and training programmes.

Europe’s urban areas face a number of environmental challenges including poor air quality, high levels of traffic and congestion, urban sprawl, greenhouse gas emissions and generation of waste and waste water. These can cause environmental damage and affect human health.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “Europe’s cities should be sustainable and offer a high quality of life so that people want to live and work in them and businesses want to invest there. The Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment works with Member States to help regional and local authorities learn from one another about measures that are particularly effective in improving the environmental performance of our cities.”

And given four out of five European citizens now live in towns and cities, benefits of a better urban environment would be felt by many.