Welcome to the dear, very green place

SCOTLAND'S largest city has launched an ambitious bid to be named Europe's "Green Capital" – but has admitted it has little chance of winning.

Glasgow is among 17 cities that have entered a competition to be awarded the coveted accolade by the European Commission in 2012.

The winner has to show it is leading the way in green behaviour, such as by having low levels of pollution, sustainable transport, and that it has cut its greenhouse gas emissions.

It must be able to act as a role model and an inspiration to other cities.

Glasgow is competing against the likes of Nuremberg in Germany, Reykjavik in Iceland, Barcelona in Spain, Budapest in Hungary, Espoo in Finland and Rome in Italy to be named the European Green Capital.

However, even though Glasgow City Council lodged an application by the 1 February deadline, a spokeswoman admitted they believed that they had little hope of success.

"We are not expecting to get far," she said. "But you never know, we could surprise ourselves." She added that they would "probably get a low score" because most of Glasgow's green initiatives were currently in the planning stage.

The spokeswoman said the reason for entering was to "familiarise ourselves with the application process" so they could stand themselves in good stead for the future.

"The big developments we have got planned are still in the process of coming true. In the future, when some of these things have become reality, we will hopefully have more chance of winning," she said.

Glasgow was the only city in the UK to enter the new competition. Stockholm, the first city to win the award, is the European Green Capital 2010.

Glasgow's bid follows the launch of a Sustainable Glasgow report by the University of Strathclyde in conjunction with the city council last month.

It spelled out ambitious plans for the city, including a new tram network, swathes of new trees and even solar-powered swimming pools.

Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy for WWF Scotland, praised Glasgow's ambition but pointed out that the city, known as the dear green place, had a long way to go before it became sustainable.

Dr Barlow said: "I welcome many of the initiatives they would like to see to put Glasgow at the forefront of sustainable cities in Europe. But, like many cities, at the moment there are considerable challenges for them.

"They have low recycling rates and significant air quality problems associated with transport, and they put their weight behind one of Scotland's road building efforts recently."

There is no prize money for the winning city, but the "glory and a trophy", according to a European Commission spokeswoman.

A panel of international experts will now study the applications and draw up a shortlist of finalists, which will be asked to submit further details to support their applications.

The panel will then present its recommendations to a jury, which will make the final decision at an award ceremony in Stockholm in October.