Urban areas are facing huge environmental challenges due to an increase in the population from 50% to 70% until 2050. The European Commission promotes the European Green Capital Award to give European cities motivation to facilitate a change towards urban sustainable development in medium-sized cities, where the city Umeå in north Sweden is applying for the third time. The aim of this study is to see whether the award is a useful tool for the environmental work in Umeå and if there are controversies among the stakeholders of the city. Interviews have been conducted where interviewees from several areas, both pro and against the award, have been interviewed. It is shown that the award has several impacts where most of them are beneficial for the environmental work in the city, such as structuring the environmental work. The main challenge with the award is a communication failure between the project group and other stakeholders of the city. The conclusion is that the award in itself seem to be good for the environmental work in Umeå but that the communication between the project group and the citizens needs to be improved.