In Östersund, sustainable travel is linked to social sustainability and individual motivations through the use of behavioral design. Instead of waiting for new bike lanes or street renovations, they have developed a method to bring about change immediately.
The goal in Östersund is simple yet powerful: to empower individuals to drive change and help them see themselves as role models—who can sow the seeds of change in others. Green travel plans are a concrete way to promote sustainable travel and accelerate the climate transition, one workplace at a time.
Entrepreneurs are experts at running businesses. To also become skilled at sustainable commuting, they may need knowledge, challenges, support, and—not least—a positive experience. That is exactly what Green Travel Plans offers. The municipality offers participating employers:
What makes Green Travel Plans particularly useful is their focus on what employers can actually do: measures that a workplace can decide on and implement on its own. This approach is therefore especially well-suited to areas where major infrastructure investments are not planned. In other words: instead of waiting for new bike lanes or redesigned streets, there is a method for creating change immediately, with support, knowledge, and concrete steps that make sustainable travel easier to try, talk about, and stick with over time. Three things are crucial for it to work: voluntary participation, research proven to work—and having fun.
The City of Östersund also offers coaching to employees to help them adopt more sustainable behaviors and engage in dialogue with the people around them. This creates ambassadors who create a ripple effect in their social circles. Hearing from a colleague, a parent at daycare, or a neighbor about how wonderful it is to bike to work in the morning inspires others to give it a try. Together, we shift the norm for what is possible—such as winter biking—and valuable.
Simple solutions provide drive and motivation.
This results in initiatives that do not require significant investment.
Behavioral design reinforces behavioral changes and accelerates the transition.
Green Travel Plans are a priority initiative in Östersund Municipality’s Energy and Climate Strategy, led by the municipality’s Energy and Climate Advisor. The initiative builds on previous projects focused on sustainable travel, particularly MEDmobilitet and GREPPET, which highlighted the importance of exploring the link between sustainable travel and social sustainability.
In the municipality of Östersund, the GREPPET feasibility study—Green Travel Plans with a Focus on Social Sustainability for Microenterprises and Rural Communities—produced a guide outlining a workflow for Green Travel Plans with a focus on social sustainability. The guide demonstrates how the same basic model can be used by both very small and larger businesses, even in areas without planned infrastructure investments, despite their vastly different circumstances. The project partners were the Municipality of Östersund and Luleå University of Technology, with funding from FORMAS and the Municipality of Östersund.
As part of the MEDMobilitet project—a public dialogue on sustainable mobility—the Municipality of Östersund developed a handbook on coaching for sustainable travel habits based on the coaching program that was developed and implemented. The project was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.
Project managers Anna Rydberg and Mona Modin collaborated with Professor of Design Åsa Wikberg-Nilsson.
The summary of the “Green Travel Plans” approach presented here is the result of a collaboration in 2025 between Viable Cities, SKR (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions), the City of Linköping, and a dozen Swedish municipalities as part of the Climate-Neutral Cities 2030 initiative, with the aim of facilitating, deepening knowledge of, and accelerating and broadening the implementation of the approach in the municipalities. The work was carried out in 2025 with funding from Vinnova as a feasibility study to prototype an accelerator designed to support the implementation, scaling, and dissemination of Green Travel Plans and other successful initiatives for climate-neutral and sustainable cities at the local level.
The City of Linköping, which has been working with Green Travel Plans since 2013, is a pioneer among municipalities and has inspired a number of other municipalities to launch similar initiatives, not least Lund and Östersund. Twelve cities at various stages of implementing Green Travel Plans have participated in the work and shared experiences and insights, concrete tools, methods, and documents with one another and with the project. These have been collected and compiled to inspire and guide other cities and their local stakeholders in their joint efforts to implement and further develop Green Travel Plans. Implementing green travel plans contributes to reducing climate emissions and a range of other positive effects, such as smoother daily travel, better accessibility, improved public health, inclusion, and gender equality. Evaluations of travel to areas with green travel plans show, among other things, reduced congestion and lower climate emissions over time. The travel plans have also created a clear forum for dialogue on sustainable transportation with employees, employers, and property owners.
To support the implementation, dissemination, and scaling of new working methods, knowledge resources such as guides, descriptions, and tools are needed. A key insight is that the value of these resources increases significantly when combined with opportunities to meet, discuss, and learn together with others who are working to implement similar working methods.
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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