DUBLIN IS ONE of eight European cities being considered for the EU’s European Green Capital Award for 2015.

Ireland’s capital will face competition from Bydgoszcz – the Polish city which housed many travelling soccer fans during Euro 2012 – as well as Bristol, Glasgow and Brussels itself.

The other cities nominated for the award are Kutahya in Turkey; Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia; and Kaunas in Lithuania.

The award is presented to a European city which has led the way in environmentally living, with the final prize awarded by a panel of international experts based on criteria including energy performance, climate change management, air quality, urban transport and waste management.

Dublin submitted papers declaring itself a candidate in August, having already made an unsuccessful bid in 2010.

A spokesman for Dublin City Council said the application process was itself “a useful one” and it was expected that Dublin would continue to apply for the award as part of its own efforts to improve its environmental sustainability.

“Information collected for the award application will also be used in our annual sustainability report and the indicators framework we are working on,” the spokesman said.

He added that the data harvested from the application process was also submitted to the Carbon Disclosure Project, which collects data on the sustainability of cities and helps to identify ways in which cities can exploit their eco-friendly status to stimulate local enterprise.

The winning city will be named in Nantes, France – the current European Green Capital – next June.