Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković will address the participants, while EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella will greet them via video.

The conference will also be addressed by the head of the EUROCITIES network and Gent Mayor Daniel Termont, and the network's secretary general Anna Lisa Boni.

The series of lecture will start with one delivered by former EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik.

As part of the conference a tour will also be organised to the RCERO regional waste management centre in Ljubljana, a EUR 150m facility serving 37 municipalities.

The closing speech will be delivered on Friday by European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc.

EUROCITIES is a network of major European cities, founded in 1986 by the mayors of Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lyon, Milan, and Rotterdam. Today it includes more than 135 European cities and 45 partner cities that are home to 130 million people.

Ljubljana joined it in 1995 and has been a member of the netowork's executive committee since 2015.