Do you want to contribute to the development of sustainable urban mobility? Now you can apply for support for Swedish participation in the call for proposals within the European-Chinese cooperation program ERA-Net Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity Sino-European. The Swedish Energy Agency and Vinnova with Viable Cities and Drive Sweden together announce about SEK 9 million to Swedish actors.
On Wednesday, a milestone event for the European climate transition in cities took place. For the first time, representatives from Swedish and Spanish cities met to exchange experiences on how to speed up the transition to climate neutral and sustainable cities through Climate City Contract.
Yesterday, the call for expressions of interest to become one of the 100 cities in Horizon Europe's Mission 100 Climate Neutral Cities closed. In total, 377 cities have submitted an application, representing 18% of the EU population. However, the countries from which the applications come are not specified.
Mariestad is one of the smaller municipalities in the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative. On our blog, they tell how the municipality is successfully testing hydrogen as a climate-neutral energy source, both for vehicles and to create a climate-neutral preschool.
From nearly 200 entrants, 45 innovative companies from around the world have now been selected to tackle climate challenges in four cities. All entries were reviewed by experts, representatives from the four cities and Climate Smart Cities Challenge partners, including Viable Cities and UN-Habitat. Nine of the finalists are from Sweden.
The Net Zero Cities website is now launched. Here you can find more information about the EU initiative for climate-neutral cities, which Viable Cities is part of. Among other things, we will contribute to the development of a European Climate City Contract, Climate City Contract. You can find the website here: netzerocities.eu
Guest writer Martin Wetterstedt, climate target researcher at Uppsala University, writes on our blog about the experiences from the work with the Climate Roadmap Uppsala. This is about how they developed proposals for working methods to reduce emissions from food and construction.
On January 20, Viable Cities, UN-Habitat and Sweden will announce the finalists of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge. This will kick-start a global journey towards system demonstration for climate-neutral and sustainable cities.
In Uppsala municipality, they have explored how to create a roadmap with concrete proposals for action based on the goal of climate neutrality. Martin Wetterstedt, climate target researcher at Uppsala University and deputy project manager for the Uppsala Climate Roadmap, explains how they went about it on our blog.
Climate City Contract 2030 is revised every year, evolving and sharpening every year to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral, sustainable cities. The first version was signed in December 2020 by nine cities, four government agencies and the Viable Cities program. On 8 December...
23 cities and five government agencies are now working with Climate City Contract 2030 as a tool to achieve the mission - climate neutral and sustainable cities by 2030. During the European Viable Cities Day 2021, the work was manifested with a signing ceremony. European guests and representatives from all 23 cities and five government agencies shared how we can accelerate the climate transition together.
Since October, 23 cities have been working together in the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative to accelerate the climate transition. The nine cities that have been involved since the start in 2019 are now sharing their most important experiences in a series of blog posts. This time it is about the City of Stockholm, which is working to implement pilot and demonstration projects on a larger scale, and sees that Climate City Contract 2030 strengthens the work for a sustainable climate-neutral society.
For two years, Viable Cities has, through the Nordic Transition Partnership project, supported Nordic collaboration between small and medium-sized cities to accelerate climate work with a special focus on the circular economy. In this Climate Breakfast, we were welcomed by Ulrika Holmgren from Smart Innovation Norway who leads the project, as well as Pelle Hallberg from Gästrike återvinnare in Gävle and Elisabet Farner from Kristianstad municipality with long experience of Nordic collaboration who share challenges and success factors.
To find solutions to the enormous societal challenges posed by global warming, we must work in new ways, within municipal operations but also across the private and public sectors public organisations. Accelerera, a joint initiative by Vinnova and Viable Cities, will develop support to achieve this. Climate Breakfast 17 was attended by, among others, Anna Fjällström from Accelerera, who is working to develop this support, and by Jenny Ångman, Järfälla municipality, and Sophia Sundberg, Barkarby Science, who talked about their experiences of creating and working in innovation teams.
Viable Cities and its partners have now launched the Climate Smart Cities Challenge at the Swedish pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. The global competition will - through four cities' climate challenges - accelerate the transition to climate-neutral cities. We are now looking for innovators who want to take part in this important work.
Last Thursday 28 October, the highest political leadership of all cities gathered for the launch of Phase 2 of the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative. This means that a total of 23 Swedish cities - representing 40% of Sweden's population - are now working together to accelerate the transition to climate neutral and sustainable cities.
The European Commission has now opened registration for cities interested in participating in the 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 mission. The formal call for applications will open later in November. However, a lot of material is already available in preparation.
23 Swedish cities - representing 40% of Sweden's population - are now working together to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral and sustainable cities. Today, the top political leadership of all cities gathered for the launch of Phase 2 of the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative.
Climate investment plans will mobilize transition capital, both from municipalities and other stakeholders, to make cities climate neutral by 2030. Viable Cities has initiated four development projects that will contribute to the development of Climate City Contract 2030 and the climate transition in cities. One of them is climate investment plans.
In the work with Climate City Contract 2030, Viable Cities has identified four areas as strategically important for the climate transition in cities. Last spring, Ramboll was commissioned to work with us to develop a strategy for one of these areas, it is about how digitalization and digital tools can support the transition to climate neutral and sustainable cities.
Last spring, Anthesis was commissioned by Viable Cities to develop a strategy for engaging citizens and civil society as co-creators of the city's future. Through workshops and interviews, Anthesis, together with its partners Actinate and Sustainable 3.0, has collected information that is analyzed and now results in recommendations on a possible way forward.
The Swedish Climate City Contract 2030 will inspire the design of the EU Climate City Contract, after Viable Cities became one of the partners in the EU's Net Zero Cities initiative.
- "Viable Cities has an important role in Net Zero Cities - connecting and sharing the lessons from the national climate contract process also in the European work," says Anders Wijkman, Vice Chairman Viable Cities.
During the work on Climate City Contract 2030, several strategic development areas have been identified, areas that need to be strengthened to accelerate the climate transition. One of them is citizen engagement. This spring, Anthesis was commissioned to develop a strategy for how citizens and civil society can be engaged as co-creators of the city's future. On our blog, Agneta Persson, Anthesis, reflects on their findings.
It is also the theme of the Climate Breakfast on Oct. 6.
The EU has now launched five missions for a new and innovative way of working together and improving people's lives in Europe and beyond. The five missions address major societal challenges such as health, climate and the environment and set ambitious and time-bound targets to be achieved by 2030. One of them is 100 climate-neutral and smart cities - with and for citizens.
It is now clear which 23 cities are joining forces with Viable Cities and four government agencies for climate-neutral and sustainable cities.
- "The transition work that we are doing together in Viable Cities is incredibly important, and has ripple effects both here in Sweden and in the EU. It is therefore very gratifying to be able to welcome another 14 cities that, together with the previous nine, are paving the way for the sustainable cities of the future," says Robert Andrén, Director General of the Swedish Energy Agency.
Today it was announced that Viable Cities has been commissioned by the government to support innovation in sustainable urban and community development in Norrbotten and Västerbotten.
- "It is a great honor to receive this assignment, and it fits very well with the processes we are already working on in the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative," says Olga Kordas, Program Manager Viable Cities.
Viable Cities' Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative is growing. From October 1, 2021, more than 20 cities will join the initiative to accelerate the climate transition. The nine cities that have been part of the initiative since the start in 2019 are now sharing their most important experiences in a series of blog posts. First up is Växjö municipality, which has worked for 25 years to become a fossil fuel-free municipality and sees that Climate City Contract 2030 strengthens the work for a sustainable climate-neutral society.
The Spanish cities of Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia and representatives of the Spanish government signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September as a first step towards a Spanish Climate City Contract for cities. The inspiration for this comes from Viable Cities' work on Climate City Contract 2030.
- "It feels unreal and wonderful that we have contributed to the development of a Climate City Contract in Spain", says Olga Kordas, Program Manager Viable Cities.
It is 2053 and the FOSSIL museum has just opened the exhibition Beyond the Fossil Society, which celebrates the fact that Sweden was the first country in the world to leave the fossil fuel era when net-zero emissions were reached in 2045.
At the premiere of the Frihamnsdagarna in Gothenburg, the city participated with a seminar series on the theme "Fair climate transition". Participants included civil servants and politicians from the City of Gothenburg as well as representatives from business, civil society and academia. They all agreed that we need to accelerate the pace of transitioning our society to climate neutrality.
When Umeå Municipality entered the Sharing Cities Sweden program four years ago, concepts such as the sharing economy were not part of their governing processes. Now that the initiative is rounded off in August 2021, Sharing City Umeå shares some of its reflections.
On the blog, Tove Lund from Sharing Cities Sweden writes about how the City of Gothenburg has coordinated the Sharing City Gothenburg test bed where they have tackled the sharing economy from a consumption perspective. Here we can read about the various services created to promote the sharing economy, ranging from the Toy Library to co-working concepts.
The Hammarby Sjöstad district in Stockholm aims to halve its climate impact by 2030 through a citizen-driven process developed by Sharing Cities Sweden in Stockholm, in collaboration with local stakeholders. But what do the citizens and entrepreneurs of Sjöstad have to do to realize this goal?
"Wow, what a journey it has been!" On the blog, project manager Juliet Leonette and her team talk about the work on the sharing economy in Sharing Cities Sweden's test bed in Sege park, Malmö. The goal? In Sege Park, it should be possible to live a good and healthy life with a minimal negative environmental and climate impact - at a reasonable cost.
Most of the greenhouse gas emissions in cities come from transportation, of people and goods. Viable Cities and Drive Sweden are now joining forces to accelerate the transition to climate neutral mobility in our cities, we call the initiative Climate Smart Mobility 2030. Our first joint event, on June 4, offered international perspectives, panel discussions and inspiring examples.
The transition to a circular economy is an important piece of the puzzle in the work for climate-neutral and sustainable cities. Umeå municipality was the only Swedish municipality to participate in the OECD circular economy program and has signed the European Circular Cities Declaration. On the blog, Liv Öberg, project manager for the circular economy in Umeå, shares her thoughts on her work.
Fill the climate gap, writes Örjan Svane, one of the researchers in Sharing Cities Sweden's test bed in Stockholm, who has followed ElectriCITY's work and the establishment of the Hammarby sjöstad district from the beginning. The district aims to become climate neutral by 2030 through a citizen-driven process developed in collaboration with local stakeholders.
The last climate breakfast of the season was about circular economy. We were hosted by Liv Öberg, project manager in Umeå municipality. Umeå was the only Swedish municipality included in the OECD program for circular economy and has signed the European Circular Cities Declaration. She was joined by Stina Behrens, Barkarby Science, who drives innovation for sustainable urban development in Järfälla together with the municipality and other stakeholders.
Viable Cities and Drive Sweden are now launching a collaboration to join forces to accelerate the climate transition in cities, with a focus on climate-neutral mobility. "Now, together with our partners, we want to develop a process that accelerates the transition to climate-neutral and sustainable transport in cities," says Olga Kordas, Program Manager Viable Cities.
We were looking for cities that want to take the lead on climate change. And many do. 30 cities from all over the country have applied to become part of the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative. "We are so pleased with the great interest, and very curious about which cities we will work with in the coming years," says Olga Kordas, Program Manager Viable Cities.
Viable Cities is strengthening its communication work. We are now looking for a creative team player who likes to think in new ways, who is also thorough and efficient. Viable Cities offers dedicated and ambitious colleagues and a creative, dynamic and international environment. Deadline 20 May.
Our search for partners to develop two strategic projects was very successful - we received over 30 high quality bids. It is now clear who will be commissioned to develop two parallel strategies for the transition to climate-neutral cities. Ramboll will lead the work on the strategy for digitalization and digital tools and Anthesis will drive the strategy for citizen engagement.
Since Viable Cities started in 2017, Allan Larsson has been Chairman for the board. At the Annual General Meeting on April 15, 2021, he stepped down and he summarizes the results achieved and expectations for the future on our blog.
To achieve the radical societal changes that the climate transition requires, we need to cooperate and learn from each other, both within the country and internationally. Climate Breakfast 11 was hosted by Nina Rismalm, North Sweden Cleantech; Östen Ekengren, Smart City Sweden, and Philip Näslund, Umeå Municipality.
At today's Annual General Meeting, the Viable Cities board has new leadership. New Chairman after departing Allan Larsson is Cecilia Schelin Seidegård, former county governor and hospital director. The new vice Chairman is Anders Wijkman, Chairman in the Club of Rome and Climate-KIC.
Curitiba (Brazil), Bogotá (Colombia), Bristol (UK) and Makindye Ssabagabo (Uganda). These are the four cities selected as partners for the Climate Smart Cities Challenge following an open call for proposals that resulted in 58 applications from 54 cities around the world.
IIIEE has launched a new web portal for learning about cities, sustainability, governance and innovation. The portal, an initiative of Viable Cities' Sharing Cities Sweden initiative, among others, brings together educators and organizations from around the world to share knowledge for sustainable urban development.
This spring, the Sharing Towns project will publish a handbook on the sharing economy for small and medium-sized municipalities, with good examples and strategies for successful work. The book is based on Yuilya Voytenko Palgan's framework for how municipalities can run and manage the sharing economy.
Allan Larsson has been Chairman on our board since Viable Cities started, and since then he has made invaluable contributions to our development. At the Annual General Meeting on April 15, he will hand over to a new Chairman. A lot has happened along the way and at Climate Breakfast 10 Allan Larsson developed his thoughts on the journey with Viable Cities and some of the stops along the way. Per Grankvist, our chief storyteller, led the conversation.
New ways of collaborating, thinking and investing were widely discussed during the Viable Cities Transition Lab Forum 5 on March 24. The theme of the conference - investment plans for climate-neutral cities - was explored from different perspectives with representatives from finance, academia, government agencies and, of course, from the host cities of Lund and Malmö.
Viable Cities is a strategic innovation program with the mission of achieving climate-neutral cities by 2030, ensuring a good quality of life for all within the planet’s limits. The program is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, Vinnova and Formas and coordinated by KTH.
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