[1] It is inspired by the Rio Earth Summit’s Local Agenda 21 plan, and was developed to contribute to the European Union’s Environmental Action Programme, ‘Towards Sustainability’.
[2] The Charter is based on the consensus of individuals, municipalities, NGOs, national and international organisations, and scientific bodies.
Part 2 relates to the creation of the European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign.
The purpose of the event was to develop a common understanding of sustainability, and as a consequence to develop a framework to be used at the local level that would better articulate how to embed sustainability across municipality sectors.
By consensus of participants, including organisations such as Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling (ACRR); Climate Alliance -Klima-Bündnis -Alianza del Climae.V; Council of European Municipalities & Regions (CEMR); Energie Cités; EUROCITIES; ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability; Medcities; Union of Baltic Cities (UBC), and the World Health Organization (WHO) - Healthy Cities, the Aalborg Commitments were agreed on and have so far been signed by more than 700 mayors from across Europe.