What it is
EU Green Week is the European Commission’s yearly environment policy conference, organised by the Directorate-General for Environment for more than 25 years. Each edition has two parts: a high-level conference in Brussels and a month of partner events run by other organisations across Europe. The 26th edition, in 2026, took the theme “Investing in a nature-positive economy” and held its conference on 3 and 4 June.
How the programme works
The 2026 conference mixed panel debates, short TED-style talks and evening film screenings. Commissioner Jessika Roswall opened it, and sessions covered nature finance, nature credits, farming and soil. The LIFE Awards were presented on the first evening. For the first time there was also a start-up and investor marketplace, Re:Invest in Nature, where small firms and projects working on nature-based solutions pitched to investors.
Partner events are the decentralised half. Organisations apply to run a workshop, debate, exhibition, guided visit or webinar on the year’s theme; the partner events page lists greening cities among the expected topics. In 2026 the call was open from 2 to 24 March, after an extension.
What came out of past editions
Themes change every year, so the edition matters. The previous editions page shows that 2025 dealt with the “three Cs” of clean, competitive and circular, 2024 with water resilience, and 2018 entirely with the action European cities take to protect the environment.
Why it matters for cities
Cities are not the main audience, but they are regularly on the programme. In 2026 a session asked whether urban greening and urban development can go together, given that around 75% of the EU population lives in urban areas. Dalila Sepúlveda, who heads the environment and sustainability department of the Municipality of Guimarães, European Green Capital 2026, was among the speakers. The same city hosted the Energy Cities Annual Forum that spring. For a city, a low-cost way to take part is to register a partner event at home under the Green Week banner.
Going, or following from home
The 2026 conference has taken place, and recordings of both days are linked from the Green Week site. The 2027 theme and dates have not been announced. We could not find registration conditions or fees for the Brussels conference published on the current pages.