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.
In Uppsala, the focus in the coming years will be on improving energy and power efficiency and increasing the share of renewable electricity, setting high climate requirements in land allocation competitions and procurements, and investing in sustainable travel through tramways, traffic diversions, new cycle paths and charging infrastructure. The new football pitch at Fålhagens IP can also become a reservoir in the event of torrential rain, the municipality plants hundreds of new trees every year, and the municipality has produced documentation and reports on various risks that may arise due to climate change, as support for property owners and construction companies. The Uppsala Climate Protocol, which has existed since 2010, brings together companies, public sector organizations, universities and associations that want to make concrete progress towards a climate-adapted Uppsala.
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.
This fall's first Climate Breakfast will focus on procurement to accelerate the climate transition. Procurement can be a powerful tool to drive a faster transition to climate-neutral and sustainable cities, but how? How can local authorities take a leading role? What are the key areas? What examples of new ways of working on this exist today?
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.
In the midst of a burning climate crisis, the Swedish government is presenting a climate action plan that falls far short of what is needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees - the target agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015. The Swedish government should do more to support the climate transition in the country's municipalities and support leading Swedish cities and municipalities.
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.
In September, 40 so-called twin cities were selected for the NetZeroCities twin cities program - a new program within the framework of the EU's mission on climate neutral cities. Lund and Luleå are the two Swedish cities that have been selected and matched with pilot cities.
This spring, Viable Cities and Digidem Lab are entering a deeper collaboration on citizen engagement. Pierre Mesure has for 5 years supported municipalities to involve citizens in decision-making, with a focus on the underrepresented in our institutions.
Among the first group of 53 cities from twenty-one countries selected to initiate climate action through the NetZeroCities Pilot Cities Programme are three of the Viable Cities Climate Neutral Cities 2030. Working individually and together, these cities will implement systemic and locally tailored innovative actions spanning multiple areas. The 53 cities have been selected from a wide range of over 100 applications.
The development of so-called system demonstrators is a way to enable system innovation with great power and mobilization to meet complex societal challenges. With system demonstrators, Vinnova and Viable Cities want to test and demonstrate the transformation of a system in a real environment, where space is created for experiments and where areas with great potential can be scaled up. Six projects have been granted funding for a design phase.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It is now clear which projects have been granted funds in the call for Energy Positive Neighbourhoods, a collaboration between Viable Cities and JPI Urban Europe. Cities4PEDs, Interact, PED-ID and Trans-PED, all with Swedish partners, are now tasked with facilitating learning between cities and countries to create energy positive neighbourhoods in Europe.
Today, December 11, 2020, is a big day for the climate transition in cities. The first climate contracts in Europe have now been signed by the political leadership of nine Swedish cities as well as by the Directors-General of four government agencies and Viable Cities. "Swedish cities are now taking the lead in Europe," says Allan Larsson, Chairman of the Board of Viable Cities.
Digital tools can be used in many different ways to accelerate the climate transition. During Transition Lab Forum 4, a workshop entitled "Digital tools for transition in practical climate work" was held to provide an insight into what tools exist, how they can be used and why.
Several Swedish cities are working on the transition to climate-neutral cities in 2030 within the framework of Viable Cities. During Climate Breakfast 2, Umeå, Uppsala and Malmö shared their experiences from the work of visualizing the climate transition based on some development projects where different tools have been used.
"It always seems impossible until it is done." Maria Vassilakou, EU mission board on climate neutral cities, quoted Nelson Mandela when she attended Transition Lab Forum 3, September 16-17.
She was one of many speakers who, over two days, gave strength and inspiration to continue working on the mission: Climate Neutral Cities 2030.
Within the framework of Viable Cities, eight cities are now inspiring and inspiring other cities, in Sweden and around the world, so that as many as possible reach climate neutrality by 2030.
On Thursday, April 23, eight Swedish cities will take a big step forward to accelerate the climate transition - Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Lund, Växjö, Uppsala, Umeå and Enköping. They want to lead, test and experiment to become climate neutral by 2030.
Climate-neutral cities in 2030 were the focus of Viable Cities' participation during Almedalen Week 2019. A theme that was very topical. During the week, 3,700 events were held, bringing together 42,000 participants from a wide range of interest areas in society. Sustainability...
The climate challenge is a critical issue where cities have a key role to play. From Lund in the south to Umeå in the north, nine cities are now receiving funding for projects that can accelerate the climate transition. The aim is to become climate neutral by 2030. The funding...
On June 12, a final seminar was held within the innovation project Mo-Bo, funded by Viable Cities. In connection with this seminar, the report "Mo-Bo | Mobility services pave the way for innovative architecture" and a short leaflet "Steering towards new goals Residential blocks with parking...
This year, Viable Cities is participating with its own events and as a co-organizer in others and in some cases as a speaker. Among other things, a seminar focusing on climate-neutral cities will be held on Monday, July 1 at 16.15 with the directors general of Vinnova,...
Barcelona Smart City Expo World Congress is the world's leading event for cities, that provides a unique meeting spot for smart city sectors and an innovative platform for urban action worldwide. In 2018, the event intends to reflect on what...
Nudging and citizen participation for sustainable lifestyles. Easier ways to travel environmentally friendly in the service. Cultivation systems in industrial areas. These are examples of the issues that are focused on in projects that have now been granted funding within the Viable Cities program, which is coordinated by KTH -...