48 Swedish municipalities, representing more than half of Sweden's population, are now joining forces for the climate transition from local to global level. During the European Viable Cities Day, the highest political leadership from the municipalities, directors general from government agencies and other Swedish and international key actors gather to strengthen the mobilization for the climate across national borders.
48 of Sweden's 290 municipalities are joining forces to tackle the climate crisis. It is now clear which cities, together with Viable Cities and six government agencies , will join forces in the next phase for climate-neutral and sustainable cities. This is also part of a growing global mobilization for climate transition in cities, where the EU is taking the lead and Swedish cities are pioneers.
To accelerate learning among the cities that have chosen to immerse themselves in the development of climate investment plans, Viable Cities organized a study tour to Belgium. By visiting cities with different characteristics and challenges, the group gained insights, ideas and important contacts for the future. The trip brought together a mix of process managers, financial strategists, economic strategists, urban planners, environmental strategists, and researchers.
The purpose of Current Sustainability's ranking is to show how far municipalities have come with the climate transition and highlight the challenges that exist. 14 of 16 cities that placed in the top are 2030 cities and mobilize for the mission of Climate Neutral Cities 2030 within Viable Cities.
Karlstad is working on a broad front for the climate transition, from student councils and collaboration to climate investment plans and ambitious targets. Charlotte Wedberg and Henric Barkman, process managers for Climate Neutral Karlstad 2030, talk about the transition work in the city, which is both broad and ambitious.
Stacks are appearing all around Karlstad - on benches, on stairs and not least on Stora torget, where they are four meters high! The bars represent Karlstad residents' climate emissions in the areas of consumption, transportation, food and energy. The bars will reappear every year until 2030 with new updated information on climate emissions.
With seven years left to achieve the mission of climate-neutral cities by 2030, radical implementation is required. In 23 Swedish pioneering cities, many efforts are currently underway to contribute to the transition in various ways. The European Viable Cities Day on 8 December celebrated successes to date and sharpened future climate action.
Citizen engagement, climate investments and regional collaboration have a big impact on reducing emissions, but it needs to be faster. Now 15 initiatives across Sweden are receiving funding to explore how this can be done in a shorter timeframe.
We are organizing 2 sessions, and partnering for a day at the Sustainability Arena at Teaterskeppet. We look forward to the sessions that have broad representation from political leaders in cities, key actors from national government agencies, the European Commission and our sister program in Spain CitiES2030. Together we accelerate the transition to Climate Neutral Cities 2030!
In Borlänge, Skellefteå and Karlstad, new mobility solutions are being developed to improve accessibility between town and country throughout Sweden. The new projects promote behavioral changes that can contribute to climate-smart and sustainable transport and mobility patterns for people and goods between city and country, in urban and rural areas.
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?
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.
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.
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.
