November 21, 2025
Eskilstuna aims to be climate positive by 2045 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030 in the geographical area. We also include consumption-based emissions, as they account for the majority of emissions.
The work is carried out in collaboration internally and together with external actors within the five focus areas of the climate program: Transport and travel sustainably, Use and produce energy efficiently, Build, renovate, and construct with low climate impact, Consume and produce sustainably, Store and capture greenhouse gases.
Collaboration creates Climate Revolution – To achieve climate goals, we work in collaboration with business, academia civil society. We do this through the Climate Revolution* collaboration arena, where industry clusters and associations are connected through joint events, seminars, networks, and training courses.
Climate commitment drives action – Eskilstuna Municipality has a local climate commitment for businesses and organizations. The climate commitment is a tool for mobilizing efforts that lead to climate change and is a way to support businesses and organizations. The commitment aims to gather at least 250 signatories by 2027 and now has over 100 signatories.
Focus on transport – Eskilstuna is a growing logistics hub, and transport accounts for 44% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, strategic work is being done on rail-connected properties and the expansion of charging infrastructure, biogas, and energy storage to create the conditions for climate-smart intermodal transport systems. Eskilstuna has one of the country's leading combined transport terminals and a municipal transshipment center that helps to optimize transport for the climate. The combined transport terminal alone reduces Eskilstuna's emissions by 25,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Circular Eskilstuna – Eskilstuna has a long tradition of being a recycling city with innovative solutions for waste management and reuse. The ReTuna recycling mall is growing and celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Through ReTuna, Eskilstuna Municipality avoids carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 4,000 tons of CO2 annually. The Eskilstuna model, with optical sorting of waste bags into different colors and fractions, has spread to more municipalities, which means that household waste collection is now available in more municipalities and is handled in Eskilstuna.
Climate transition through procurement – Climate requirements in procurement are a powerful tool for the municipality to reduce climate impact and promote climate transition for our suppliers. Climate roadmaps for the procurement categories of construction, civil engineering, and vehicles and transport have been developed and launched during the year. Work is now underway to set requirements in accordance with the roadmaps. Eskilstuna's successful work with procurement is one of the reasons why the municipality became one of Fossil Free Sweden's climate leader municipalities for 2025.
Knowledge is key – Knowledge is crucial to the success of the transition, which is why knowledge-raising initiatives are being carried out internally within the five focus area teams. Externally, this is being done through various seminars at the Energy Evolution Center and tools such as Energitrappan. Climate leadership training for small and medium-sized enterprises has continued in 2025 and involved around 50 companies since its launch in 2024. Two of the municipality's collaboration partners are Studiefrämjandet, which works with public education for climate transition, and Mälardalen University (MDU), which mobilises research and education in the climate field. MDU is developing a new MSc program in building technology with a focus on digitalization and sustainability. The program aims to integrate successful lessons learned from Viable Cities into relevant courses.
In the city's latest update, they talk about the work, the transition arena, the project portfolio and much more.
Elin Svanström, process manager for Climate Neutral Eskilstuna 2030, elin.svanstrom@eskilstuna.se
Malin Isaksson, environmental strategist in Eskilstuna, malin.isaksson@eskilstuna.se
There are only benefits to becoming an energy-smart company; for the economy, for the working environment and not least through reduced negative climate impact and emissions. In Eskilstuna municipality through the Energy Evolution Center, the energy-smart solutions are tailored to the needs of companies to become more energy-smart - through the Energy Staircase!
Eskilstuna offers many exciting climate solutions. Come visit us to get inspired and speed up the transition.
ReTuna recycling mall – ReTuna is the world's first recycling mall and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The mall is located next to the Retuna Recycling Center, where visitors can drop off reusable items at the mall's depot, "Returen." Here, the materials are received by Eskilstuna Municipality's Resource Unit for Activity, Motivation, and Work (AMA), which performs an initial sorting. The items are then distributed to the reuse shops in the mall. The shop staff select what they want to repair, fix, transform, refine, and sell. ReTuna Recycling Mall – Retuna
Municipal electric scooters save time – Eskilstuna Municipality has purchased around 80 electric scooters to replace short car journeys. By using electric scooters in home care services, for example, staff can reach users quickly and easily without having to spend time parking a car. This reduces traffic, cuts emissions, and saves time for staff. Home care on electric scooters in Eskilstuna – the solution to parking problems and fines | SVT News
Collaboration arena for energy transition – The Energy Evolution Center (EEC) is a collaboration arena for promoting energy efficiency, increasing the use of renewable energy, and energy storage. Here, different players can meet to share experiences and make connections. The EEC holds lots of seminars and company visits to boost knowledge and has set up an Energy Storage Cluster to raise awareness about energy storage. Energy Evolution Center
Climate commitment – Eskilstuna Municipality's local climate commitment for businesses and organizations is a tool for mobilizing efforts that lead to climate change and is a way to support businesses and organizations. Actors who sign the commitment are invited to various training courses, events, and projects to increase their ability to adapt. Climate transition Eskilstuna – Would you like to contribute to climate transition? – Eskilstuna Municipality
Climate leadership training– Climate training for managers in small and medium-sized enterprises is provided on an ongoing basis in collaboration with the Factory Association and Mälardalen Industrial Technology Center. This gives companies a foundation in areas such as sustainability strategy, reporting, and supplier requirements, as well as circularity, energy efficiency, and digitalization.
Energy efficiency tool – Energitrappan is a powerful tool for reducing energy consumption and climate impact. The tool is used by energy and climate advisors to support small and medium-sized enterprises in becoming energy smart. Energy Evolution Center
Heat recovery benefits the climate – A unique collaborative project combines energy efficiency with modern technology in a repurposed aircraft engine factory in Eskilstuna. Instead of cooling away large amounts of waste heat from Scandinavian Data Center's facility in Ärnaberget, the heat will be recycled into the local district heating network. This is an example of how industrial symbiosis creates resilience in the local energy system.
Construction waste recycling depot– Eskilstuna's first construction recycling depot for private individuals is located at the recycling center at the ReTuna recycling mall. At the depot, private individuals can drop off construction and demolition materials, which Beijer Byggmaterial evaluates to see if they can be reused and sold in its nearby store.
Transshipment center – The municipality has a transshipment center, OLC, where a large part of the municipality's deliveries are sent to be transshipped and transported to the various operations. This has led to a reduction in the number of delivery stops from around 40,000 when the OLC was introduced to around 8,000 per year. The OLC is working on improving route optimization to further streamline transport. The OLC also plays an important role in the municipality's preparedness.
CirkuLäran – All preschools in Eskilstuna have the opportunity to provide their staff with further training in reuse and obtain materials from CirkuLäran at ReTuna. The preschools gain access to materials through Idéverkstaden and acquire expertise on materials for a chemical-free preschool. CirkuLäran also supports UF companies that want to create businesses based on reuse and circular business models.
Waste as a resource – Eskilstuna has a unique color system for the collection of household waste from properties. Six different colored bags, one for each type of waste, are thrown into the same bin, collected, sorted, and recycled in different ways. Through our collection system, we also collect textiles, approximately six kilograms per person per year, which are sorted by Eskilstuna Municipality's resource unit for Activity, Motivation, and Work (AMA).
Sustainable production – Mälardalen Industrial Technology Center (MITC) is a collaboration platform linked to Mälardalen University that works with sustainable production. Through collaboration and support for industry, opportunities are created for a faster transition, including through research, education, and test environments.
Climate Award – A new award – Climate Hero of the Year – was established in 2025 to recognize entrepreneurs who work with sustainable growth and make a significant contribution to the climate. The award was presented at Eskilstuna Business Day to Stefan Forsberg at Smartfront for their innovative work on solutions for renovating the climate shell of buildings. Eskilstuna Municipality Climate Award – Eskilstuna Municipality
Eskilstuna highlights additional actions that they believe may be of particular interest to other municipalities to spy and apply. Contact the process leader to spy and apply.
Eskilstuna municipality's local Climate Commitment for companies and organizations is a tool for rallying around various initiatives that lead to climate change and is a way to support companies and organizations.
Climate leadership training for business leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises has been developed and tested together with Fabriksföreningen and Mälardalen Industrial Technology Center. A new round will be launched as the pilot was successful.
Climate City Contract 2030 is a collective effort to achieve the climate transition that we need to implement in a short time to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees. It is an agreement between municipalities, government agencies and Viable Cities where all parties undertake to make a concrete contribution to increasing the pace of climate change.
To achieve deep change, we need to move from fragmented projects to an ecosystem of efforts that all pull in the same direction. Cities are doing this together with Viable Cities, funders government agencies and other partners, in different constellations and with different objectives. It is about moving beyond dealing with symptoms and instead focusing on underlying problems in our social structure. Here you will find the initiatives and studies within the city that have been granted funding under Viable Cities.
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