Stockholm: European Green Capital

Lubos FendrychLubos_Fendrych@student.uml.edu

Global Studies ProgramCollege of Fine Arts,

Humanities & Social Sciences

Some facts• 880,000 inhabitants but expecting to grow up to one million in 2020

• City built on 14 islands

• 40% of area is parks and green areas (the world´s first national city park)

• Awarded the EU Green Capital Status in 2010

• The only global city to meet stringent the World Health Organization’s recommended air contaminant standards

• Among best cities to live in (health care, education, business environment, the number of sunlight hours, environment)

Do you Fika? A way of life in Sweden

• Fika as a noun refers to thecombination of coffee andsweet snack

• But Fika as a verb means the act of partaking in Swedish social life

• “I have learned, over a cup of coffee, for even a brief time to stop doing and to enjoy just being“ (Averbuch, The New York Times, 2013)

• Fika philosophy is also reflected in the Swedish approach to the environmental issues

Growing… But sustainably and environmental-friendly

• 30 major urban development project are currently under way (Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm Royal Seaport, etc.), plans to built 100,000 new homes by 2030

• The key question is how to reach balance between ensuring that all city services will meet the expectations and requirements of citizens, and, simultaneously, will not endanger both the city´s goal to become fossil-fuel free city by 2030 (2050) and energy efficiency?

• The City´s Environmental Programme and Stockholm City Plan=> employing sustainable energy solutions, crafting smart environmental designs adapted to future climate change, and support ecological means of transport

A case study of Hammarby Sjöstad – the first environmental city district

• Based on a closed ecocycle where waste and energy use are minimized, and asmuch as possible isrecycled and composted

• Half of the overall energy is produced by residents themselves

• Renewable fuels, re-use of waste heat, production of biogas from wastewater, household energy efficiency (insulation, solar panels, green roofs, water-saving shower heads) => up to 50% reduction of energy consumption

Towards zero waste• 99 % of all household waste is recycled, ecologically burned,

composted or reused, 1% of waste ends up in landfills

• recycling stations are as a rule no more than 300 metres from any residential area

• Most Swedes separate all recyclable waste in their homes (80% of Swedish population support stringent ecological programs)

• A vacuum-powered tubes to transport and collect recyclables and garbage

Waste to Energy• 50% of the household waste is burnt to produce energy at incineration

plants– The Högdalen co-generation plant separates combustible waste as an energy

source in electricity and district heating production

• The remaining ashes which do not burn are sifted to extract gravel that is used in road construction

• The smoke from incineration plants consists of 99.9 per cent non-toxic carbon dioxide

Waste to energy • Sweden has developed a large capacity for efficient and profitable

waste treatment (imports 700,000 tonnes of waste from other countries)

• Re-using materials or products means using less energy to create a product, than burning one and making another from scratch

• Stockholm households keep separating their newspapers, plastic, metal, glass, electric appliances, light bulbs, batteries, and food waste

• Newspapers are turned into paper mass, bottles are reused or melted into new items, plastic containers become plastic raw material; food is composted and becomes soil or biogas through a complex chemical process

District Heating System

• Heating plants burn climate-neutral fuels (biofuels, household waste) and produce heating and electricity together (90% of the fuel´s energy can be utilized)

• Accounts for almost 80% of total heating needs

• Due to the system, emissions ofgreenhouse gases have decreased by 40% since 1990.

Transportation in Stockholm• The key requirements: a high level of mobility and a low emission level

• Congestion charge (up to 10 USD per day) => reduced emissions ( and traffic (around 20%)

• Rubbish trucks and all inner city buses are run on recycled electricity, ethanol or biogas

• A special focus on cycling and walking mobility

• 80% travelers in rush hours use public transport

• Walking and cycling comprising 39% of all trips during weekdays, using cars account for 30%

• Why Stockholmers are willing to travel by public transport?! =>

1. Public transport accessibility is exceptionally high

2. Persuasive “pull“ factors (bus corridors, bus rapid transit system, multi-modality, etc.)

3. Aesthetics of public transport => “the world´s longest art gallery“ decorated with sculptures, paintings, engravings,

etc.

Boston and recycling• Residential recycling rate is only on 20% (80% in San Francisco, 60% in Seattle)

– Food waste comprises 25% of the current waste stream

• 100 cities have curbside collection of organic waste => Boston has only a voluntary programs

• Insufficient recycling capacity (the only one industrial scale composter in Marlborough)

• Does city of Boston (Massachusetts legislation) do enough to scale up recycling rate?

• “Chicken-and-egg“ problem in Boston: cannot begin a massive organic waste diversion program until there is capacity to process it, no company will build a new digester without a guarantee of volume

Boston and recycling

• But thing are moving up! =>

• The Massachusetts Commercial Food Waste Bill:

– apply to all institutions producing more than one ton of food waste per week (1,700 public institutions)

– The new legislation enforces to donate the edible food, ship it to an digestion facility, or use it as animal feed

– Converted to the law on October, 1, 2014

• State’s overall waste-reduction plan: aims to reduce waste streams by 80% by 2050

References

• OECD Green Growth Studies (2013): Green Growth in Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.oecd.org/about/publishing/corrigenda.htm

• The London School of Economics and Political Science. LSE Cities Report. Stockholm: Green Economy leader Report, London, 161 p.

• Stockholms stad (2013): Stockholm: a sustainably growing city, 46 p.• Averbuch, Y. (2013). The New York Times. In Sweden, the Fika Experience.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/sports/soccer/in-sweden-the-fika-experience.html

• The Swedish Recycling Revolution (2014). https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/

• Midwest energy news (2013): Is burning garbage green? In Sweden, there is little debate. http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2013/10/17/is-burning-garbage-green-in-sweden-theres-little-debate/

• Fitzgerald, J. (2013). The Boston Globe. Boston needs to embrace curbside collection of organic waste. http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/09/20/organic-waste-should-recycled-boston/UzKGiYwCUDpCVeatM4LvkJ/story.html

• Ritchie, H. (2014). Massachusetts Imposes Ambitious Law to Eliminate Commercial Food Waste. http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/waste_not/hannah_ritchie/massachusetts_imposes_ambitious_law_eliminate_commercial_foo