The researcher Sol Agin from Karlstad University participated today in our lunch seminar on climate communication where she presented results from her research. There is much to learn from her analysis of the consequences of different ways of communicating to different target groups where the expectation of the sender plays a major role.
Gävle, Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Lund, Malmö, Stockholm and Umeå. It is now clear which Swedish municipalities will now be part of the EU's mission for climate-neutral cities in 2030 - Cities Mission. A total of 100 cities across Europe have been selected. But what does this mean for the cities that joined? And how can it contribute to the climate transition in all Swedish cities?
Already this year, emissions in Sweden need to be reduced by more than 20 percent to meet our share of the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degree target. This is according to a carbon budget developed by WWF together with researchers at Uppsala University. Meeting the target requires a completely different societal transition than the one currently being discussed in the Swedish debate. So how can cities accelerate their climate work and help to speed up the climate transition? Lars Johansson explains more about this in his blog.
Gävle, Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Lund, Malmö, Stockholm and Umeå. These are the Swedish municipalities that are now part of the EU's mission for climate-neutral cities in 2030 - Cities Mission. A total of 100 cities have been selected out of 377 applicants. And seven of them are Swedish cities.
Yesterday, Viable Cities made a study visit to Uppsala municipality's city hall to participate in the kick-off of the new Climate Neutral Uppsala work package.
On April 20, it was time for Viable Cities' member organizations to gather for the Annual General Meeting and Strategy Day. The AGM itself was completed quickly and the rest of the day was devoted to insight into current activities and creative exercises.
On April 11, thirteen actors gathered in Borlänge to launch and manifest the partnership they have entered into to accelerate the transition to a climate-neutral Borlänge by 2030. On the blog, project manager Salomon Abresparr tells us about the gathering of forces around a local Climate City Contract.
The magazine Aktuell Hållbarhet has now published the list of the country's most powerful people in sustainability. Viable Cities Program Manager Olga Kordas is ranked 34th.
- "It's fantastic to be on the list," says Olga Kordas. I am honored and see it as the entire Viable Cities team has been appointed, we do this job together.
The European DUT partnership, of which Viable Cities is a member, is now looking for participants from Swedish cities for three thematic city panels: one will be on energy positive districts (PED), another on circular economy and the third on 15-minute cities. The deadline for cities to register their interest is April 25.
Swedish researchers and organizations will receive SEK 30.9 million in funding for eight projects in sustainable urban development, through the European research program ENUTC.
The societal challenges we face relate not only to climate change but also to housing segregation, exclusion and health inequalities. With less than 10 years to go before the 2030 Agenda goals are achieved, the time to act is now. It's time to turn knowledge into action and ensure that research is put to good use in order to transition to a sustainable society that does not exceed the planetary boundaries.
Events are a growing billion-dollar industry and a key component of the economy and profile of many cities. At the same time, they are an increasingly important tool for community development. The joy and excitement of an event is something special. There is a strength and power to influence and change. This is why events have a great potential to contribute to, push and accelerate the climate transition.
Achieving the mission of climate-neutral cities by 2030 requires a transformation of the entire social system. We need to work in completely new ways and find solutions that encompass all dimensions that affect our lives: from regulatory frameworks and business models to the behavior of all citizens.
Vinnova, Viable Cities and several cities are now developing a new tool to achieve this - system demonstrators. Anna Gemzell from Umeå municipality believes the tool can make a difference.
Gävle, Borlänge and Eskilstuna are three of the "newer" municipalities in the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative. This week, the project managers from the three met at the Palladium in Borlänge for joint learning.
- "There is great value in developing existing and finding new forms of cooperation between the cities when climate work is accelerated," says Evelina Loberg, project manager in Gävle municipality.
Nature is a good example of a circular system, nothing becomes trash that needs to be disposed of, everything is recreated into something new. To keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees, we need to find circular systems for the resources we use. During Climate Breakfast 21, we went from broad brushstrokes in the EU to local initiatives in Karlstad. How can the circular economy contribute more to the climate transition?
During Transition Lab Forum 8, we shared experiences from Skellefteå as part of the transition in northern Sweden, and we explored some key issues in the transition process and Climate City Contract 2030 - multi-level governance, sustainable construction, business strategies for sustainability and citizen engagement. The power of the transition in the north is a golden opportunity to use to accelerate the climate transition throughout Sweden and the world.
Viable Cities is growing and now welcomes Maria Tengvard, Lars Johansson and Karin Linnea Petrusson to the program office. They bring more muscle to our joint work towards the mission of climate-neutral and sustainable cities by 2030.
Many of the emissions we need to address come from construction, including the materials used, such as concrete. But it is possible to use other materials, the forest contributes a material that is both strong and sustainable. Sustainable construction in wood is the theme of Climate Breakfast 20, where we are hosted by Tomas Nord from RISE / Smart Housing Småland and Britt-Inger Brisádottir, development strategist, Gustaf Ulander, project manager, both from Skellefteå municipality.
This breakfast is hosted by our program manager Olga Kordas, who develops the thoughts about Climate City Contract 2030's innermost essence, and by Henrik Johansson from Växjö municipality and Charlotte Brynielsson from Kalmar municipality. Both municipalities are part of the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative and will talk about the value of Climate City Contract, the iterative process, what they have achieved and their plans for the future. Welcome to the Viable Cities Climate Breakfast 2022!
Climate and sustainability pioneers Umeå, Malmö and Stockholm are three of four nominees for the Swedish Architects' Award for the best plan of the year - the Plan Prize. The winner will be announced in April.
The European Commission has now published the list of all European cities that want to participate in the mission 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. From Sweden, 13 cities have applied, all of which are part of the Viable Cities initiative Climate Neutral Cities 2030.
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.
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.
