Deadline: October 19, 2025
Applications are open for the AIPH World Green City Awards 2026. The AIPH World Green City Awards is the first and only global awards for cities where plants and nature are the core focus. As an ongoing competition with entries open every 2 years, the Awards recognize the role of city authorities in promoting and supporting greater inclusion of plants and nature in urban environments.
The Awards are designed to champion ambitious nature-orientated approaches to city design and operation. Specifically, they seek to recognize public initiatives relying on a greater use of plants and nature to create better city environments – helping to fulfil local aspirations for improved economic, social and environmental resilience.
Building on the success of previous editions, the 2026 awards will celebrate inspiring initiatives such as Chengdu, China’s “Urban Green Heart Programme” (2024) and City of Hyderabad, India’s “Green Garland to the State of Telangana” (2022).
Award Categories
- Awards are offered in seven categories, with three finalists and a category winner being selected in each category, and with one Grand Winner selected from the seven category winners.
Awards
By entering the AIPH World Green City Awards, cities stand a chance to:
- Have their initiatives featured on the AIPH website and integrated to the AIPH Green City Case Study Collection. All Finalists will be featured.
- Win an award certificate and a trophy. Winners can nominate key partners and key staff so that additional award certificates can be prepared in their name.
- Gain global recognition and profiling opportunities, Winners will be promoted via AIPH and the World Green City Awards partners’ and sponsors’ media channels.
- Have their city’s work displayed to a significant global audience in the AIPH pavilion of an AIPH International Horticultural Expo.
- Receive up to 4 complimentary tickets to the gala event of the Awards ceremony for winners.
Eligibility
- All submissions should be compiled and submitted by a suitable representative acting on behalf of the city authority. The city authority is the legally defined and nationally recognised local or subnational government authority which is mandated to govern and undertake and implement strategic policy and planning initiatives within the single urban area/human settlement and surrounding expanse under its jurisdiction.
- A suitable representative of the city authority is a technical or political staff member or official from either the Mayor’s or executive officer’s office or a relevant department who is comfortable in their mandate to act on behalf of the city authority. Any such staff member or official can initiate the entry by registering an account on the online portal. However, all entries, at the time of submission on or before 19 October 2025 must be accompanied by a Mayoral Declaration, signed and stamped by a signatory authorised by national law to legally represent the city. Typically, this person is the Mayor or Deputy-Mayor of the city or can be another senior political representative who is in charge of international cooperation or sustainable development.
Application
Cities register a profile on the entry submission portal and complete the online entry form, in English, which consists of a series of questions in line with the judging criteria and may be complemented by supporting evidence such as images, videos, publications (e.g. copy of a report), letters of support (e.g. from partners).
For more information, visit AIPH World Green City Awards.
