Climate Program for Gothenburg

The Climate Program aims to achieve the environmental quality objective: Reduced climate impact. Reduced climate impact means that in 2050 Gothenburg will have a sustainable and equitable level of greenhouse gas emissions. One objective is to influence the emissions on which the city has direct impact. Another objective is to reduce the emissions from the local companies and industries as well as from the consumption of the citizens of Gothenburg. The program comprises nine strategy objectives, which are area orientations and extend through to 2030. The aim is that when the strategy objectives have been achieved, results will be seen of the measures that have been taken in the follow-up of the intermediate objectives related to the environmental quality objective for 2035. Achieving the intermediate objectives will give a good and reasonable starting point for the final stage of the program through to 2050. Some key objectives regarding the focus areas of transport, energy, waste and urban development are: • By 2020, the emission of carbon dioxide from the non-trading sector in Gothenburg will be reduced by at least 40%, using 1990 as the base year. • Energy use in homes will be reduced by at least 30% and electricity use (excluding industry and transport) will be reduced by at least 20% by 2020, using 1995 as the base year. • By 2035, emissions of greenhouse gases within the Gothenburg geographical area will be a maximum of two tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per person. • By 2035, the consumption-based emissions of greenhouse gases by the people of Gothenburg will be a maximum of 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per person. • By 2030, all district heating derives from renewable energy sources, waste incineration and residual heat from industry. • By 2030, the total use of primary energy for electricity and heat does not exceed 31 MWh per inhabitant. • By 2030, the City of Gothenburg produces at least 500 GWh of renewable electricity and 1200 GWh of biogas. • Carbon dioxide emissions from road transport within the Gothenburg geographical area will decrease by at least 80% by 2030 compared to 2010. • Carbon dioxide emissions from shipping in the Gothenburg geographical area will decrease by at least 20% by 2030 compared to 2010. • The climate impact of citizen's air travel will be reduced by at least 20% by 2030 compared to 2012. • By 2030 the climate impact of food consumed in the City of Gothenburg will be reduced by 40% compared to 2010. • The climate impact from our purchase of goods and materials should decrease. A target for 2030 will be set before 2018. • The volume of household waste per person in Gothenburg will be reduced by at least 30% by 2030 compared to 2010. As a part of the Climate Program Gothenburg has set ambitious, measurable, climate targets on short and long term. As a part of the strategy, the city has started to measure the climate impact of consumption of its inhabitants, which is a new approach. A key element of building commitment to the Climate Program has been a series of workshops for key stakeholders. The city also used public consultations on the climate program to involve citizens. The Climate Program is supported by numerous actions on a broad scale, some of which are outlined below. Some examples of actions focusing on energy and environment are: • Gothenburg will phase out natural gas and oil in district heating production, and will investigate new climate-neutral solutions, such as more excess heat and heat storage. First priority though is increased energy efficiency in buildings and industry. • A congestion Tax has been taken into use in order to improve accessibility on the roads, reduce emissions and part-finance the West Swedish Agreement. The West Swedish Agreement is a series of infrastructure initiatives intended primarily invest in increased public transport. • Low-energy preschools have been built/planned and Gothenburg has been taking the lead within Sweden. • Biogas production from wood based raw materials is promoted and the GoBiGas plant, inaugurated in 2015, is the first of its kind. • Connection possibilities have been established for ships arriving in the port to electricity grid and district heat. Some examples of initiatives focused on promoting resource efficient consumption are: • “Recycle park” has been launched, where usable things such as clothes, furniture, bicycles or construction material can be given to others instead of thrown away. • “Tage” is a municipal intranet site through which City of Gothenburg administrations and companies can advertise their surplus office equipment. • ”Cycle-speed-streets” have been launched where car traffic has to adjust to the bicycle traffic. • Bike sharing is offered in the central part of the city. • All schools serve vegetarian meals at least once a week with the goal of “Eco friendly meals”. • Collection of textiles from apartment buildings is offered in order to promote reuse or recycle. • The Port of Gothenburg is investing heavily in increasing the proportion of goods carried by train. In 2000, a total of 22% of all containers were transported to and from the port by train. In 2013, the proportion was 48%. • Carbon Offsets of Official Journeys in order to compensate for the emissions used by transports. A unique feature is that financing of the initiatives needed to achieve the goals is in part achieved by giving out Green Bonds to finance sustainable initiatives. Success Factors Some key success factors for the climate program are building stakeholder commitment to the climate program, setting measurable targets and finding good ways of implementing and financing concrete actions. Key Results and Achievements The project is ongoing. The impacts outlined below were achieved in Gothenburg before the formal Climate Program was accepted by the city council in 2014. These are related to previously set climate related goals and are now also part of the comprehensive Climate Program. Novelty: Measuring the climate impacts of consumption of its inhabitants is an innovative and challenging aspect of the Climate Program. The city of Gothenburg has been the first in the world to use sk. Green Bonds to finance different types of sustainable initiatives. About 250 M€ have been collected and invested in e.g. electric cars, biogas production and water cleaning projects. The Green Bonds involve reporting on the impact of the issue and how the proceeds will be used. Sustainability Impacts: Within the framework of climate action in Gothenburg, and since 2014 under the comprehensive Climate Program, impacts have been reached especially in the transports and energy sectors: • Air particle content has generally decreased over the past few years. • 50% of all containers to the port of Gothenburg are transported onwards by train – which has resulted in 400 fewer articulated lorries per day in the region's traffic. • The number of biogas filling stations has increased from 1 in 1998 to 23 in 2014 in the Gothenburg region. • Congestion taxes have occasionally reduced traffic by 11%. Through active urban planning measures, the number of people who live close to public transport has increased by 45,000 in the Gothenburg region. Challenges, lessons learned and potential for development: It is important to reserve project resources for building commitment to the climate program. Workshops with the main stakeholders have been an important means to achieve this. Choosing relevant indicators and finding scientifically relevant ways of measuring baselines and progress is a challenge, but it is essential to be able to track performance and the achievement of goals as well as the impact of actions. Cooperation with researchers is important to make it possible to find scientifically valid ways to measure progress. A specific challenge is influencing consumption of citizens, as there is no clear owner within the city administration for promoting actions linked to reduced consumption. The committees and boards that are responsible for the strategies in the Climate Programme should incorporate the strategies into their regular budget and planning process. As part of the implementation, it will be necessary to make several major investments. Experience from work on green bonds will be valuable as will the development of various investment tools and financial decision-making models, the ultimate aim being to create long-term, sustainable solutions. The next steps will involve further choosing of indicators, measuring progress, further deepening the commitment to the strategy as well as planning further concrete actions. Contact person for more information: Peter Krahl Rydberg, peter.krahl.rydberg@miljo.goteborg.se