A climate-neutral Växjö by 2030
The Municipality of Växjö, a member of the Union of Baltic Cities, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, Energy Cities and the Covenant of Mayors Europe, is one of the Swedish municipalities that is engaged in the Race to Zero campaign and in the Viable Cities' Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative. As part of this initiative, cities are exploring ways to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. It supports cities by gathering information on European regulations, innovation tools and helping them access European funding opportunities.
© Photo credits: Anders Bergön
A concrete outcome of the project was the Climate City contract, which commits Swedish cities to accelerate the pace of the climate transition until 2030, in accordance with the UN 2030 Agenda.
Viable Cities collaborates with 23 Swedish climate cities and five government agencies, helping them to connect with various stakeholders, such as research centres of excellence, large, small and medium-sized enterprises from a variety of sectors, public and civil society organisations.
The municipality's strategies under the Climate City contract aiming to become carbon neutral by 2030 include sustainable community planning, a higher share of renewable energy, more energy efficiency and a sustainable transport system. These in addition to an intensified work on sustainable consumption and production, as well as measures to offset greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural sector.
These targets were already part of the Sustainable Växjö 2030 programme. The municipality's ambitious goals have a long history: as early as 1996, the municipal council unanimously decided that Växjö would become fossil-fuel-free by 2030, and since then the entire municipality, from citizens to housing associations and industry, together with academia, has embraced the challenge.
”Växjö has a long tradition of engaging actively in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. The per capita emissions were reduced by 63 % between 1993 and 2021. I am proud of the achievements so far but I also know that we have to speed up to reach climate neutrality. The work we are doing together with Viable Cities in the Climate City Contract is one important part of transforming Växjö to a climate neutral city”, says Mayor Malin Lauber.
As reported in CDP-ICLEI track in 2022, power and heat generation facilities are 100 % renewable since 2020, with the use of wind, solar, water and bio-based cogeneration sources. The city is enabling the production of renewable fuels, such as biofuel for aviation and hydrogen, in connection with the Sandvik plant. This is achieved without sacrificing biodiversity, as most of Växjö's energy production comes from forest residues.
Thanks to the EU-funded READY project, the city was able demonstrate that it is possible to renovate households, achieving a reduced energy consumption by 50%.
In 2021, a new transport plan was adopted to prioritise walking, cycling and the use of public transport, while expanding infrastructure for electric vehicles. The transport plan is crucial for Växjö’s climate work since transport generate 95% of the CO2 emissions in Växjö, or 60% of the total greenhouse gases.
The municipality is working to increase climate-smart food served in the schools, pre-schools and elderly care. Using creative public tender models, Växjö makes it possible for several local producers to deliver food to the municipality. Food waste is collected from all the citizens, and is being used to produce biogas, which is used in the transport sector.
As part of emissions reduction efforts, Växjö Energy plans to invest in capturing 180,000 tonnes of biogenic carbon dioxide. This will help Växjö to become climate neutral since it can compensate for methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture.
In 2019, Växjö Municipality adopted its Sustainability Programme, describing the visionary goals for a sustainable Växjö 2030. These goals in the words of the municipality serve to "protect the indivisibility of the 2030 Agenda and underline that nature and the environment, as well as society and people alike depend on each other”.
With these initiatives, the municipality of Växjö is at the forefront of the UN Agenda 2030.
CDP-ICLEI Track 2022: https://data.cdp.net/
Union of Baltic Cities: https://www.ubc.net
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group: https://www.c40.org
Cities Race to Zero: www.citiesracetozero.org
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability: https://iclei.org/
Energy Cities: https://energy-cities.eu/
Covenant of Mayors Europe: https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/region/european-union-and-western-europe/
Climate Neutral Cities 2030 project - Viable Cities: https://en.viablecities.se/klimatkontrakt-2030
Sustainable Växjö 2030: https://www.vaxjo.se/sidor/politik-och-demokrati/english/sustainable-development.html
UN Agenda 2030: https://unsdg.un.org/2030-agenda
READY project: https://smart-cities-marketplace.ec.europa.eu/projects-and-sites/projects/ready
Växjö Energy: https://www.veab.se/privat/