Swedish cities partner with Climate-KIC
The Cities of Malmö and Gothenburg have partnered with Climate-KIC.
Malmö has over the past decades undertaken a journey from a traditional industrial city to a modern city of knowledge.
The City of Malmö, in southern Sweden, takes a holistic stance on sustainability, heeding its responsibilities as a local actor in the face of global challenges. Backed by ambitious political targets, city departments cooperate with each other, and with enterprises, universities and civil society organisations, in promoting environmental development as a vehicle for economic prosperity and social innovation. Today, through collaborative efforts after difficult years of deep recession in the 1980s and 1990s, Malmö is well known for its accomplishments in urban sustainability.
Acknowledging the complexity of challenges still ahead, while keen to keep pushing the envelope, Malmö became the first city in Sweden to join the Climate-KIC network.
“Through active partnership we want to increase our leverage, and the network’s, in paving the way for continued urban transition for sustainable development”, says climate strategist and Climate-KIC contact point Joakim Nordqvist. These are challenges that include and demand commitment from all parts of society.
Succinct descriptions of the City of Malmö’s sustainability ambitions are given in its Environmental Programme. Further information about local initiatives and efforts can be found on its Sustainable City website.
The City of Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, is part of the Öresund region and has undergone a substantial urban reconstruction. Once an industrial city, Malmö is now known as as sustainable city with low energy houses and green roofs. The Western Harbour (Västra Hamnen), the flagship of Malmö’s redevelopment, is now an attractive residential and business district with 100% locally-produced renewable energy and is described as Europe’s first carbon-neutral neighborhood . The Ecocity district of Augustenborg is world renown for its roof-top gardens. Malmö was further Sweden’s first Fairtrade City and is one of the world’s most bicycle-friendly city. Read here about other sustainable initiatives in Malmö.
A testing arena. That is the City of Gothenburg’s most important contribution to Climate-KIC, while finding solutions to political goals is the benefit Gothenburg sees.
“For us, this network is about making it possible to solve political goals. What we can offer is foremost a testing arena, a physical place where enterprises and academia can try and implement ideas”, Svante Sjöstedt says to vartgoteborg.se. Svante Sjöstedt is Environment Analyst at the Environmental Administration in the City of Gothenburg, and responsible for implementation of the Climate Programme.
Of the many activities Climate-KIC offers, the City of Gothenburg has already decided to stage an Open Innovation day in October 2016.
“This will be an opportunity to create the right conditions for a more sustainable lifestyle and finding ideas for businesses to encourage sustainable consumption. We will ask companies already in the network as well as others, locally and regionally, to come up with innovative solutions to the challenges of the city”, says Svante.
He also feels that working together with Trade and Industry is a valuable tool in influencing companies in a sustainable direction.
“They have knowledge to offer, and instead of showing up with requirements from the authorities, we ask them and interest us in what they have to offer.”
The City of Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, is a front-runner in climate mitigation and sustainable development. Gothenburg has developed an ambitious climate plan with the aim that “in 2050 Gothenburg will have a sustainable and equitable level of greenhouse gas emissions”. Furthermore, Gothenburg was the first city in the world to issue green bonds. Read more about the sustainable city of Gothenburg here.
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