SWEDEN - IN THE FORE FRONT BUILDING SUSTAINABLE AND SMART SOCIETIES
Xeric works with experts and organizations mainly from Sweden that has developed an experience during many years of sustainable development.
Sweden is well known for being in the fore front building sustainable and smart societies, and with an experienced CleanTech industry with many innovative solutions. Sweden is one of the world’s leading nations when it comes to innovating, implementing and exporting cleantech solutions. As an example, the EU-China Cleantech Competition 2018 which is part of CleanConnect 2018, gave all three awards in 2018 to Swedish companies.
Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions are among the lowest in the EU. Since 1990, emissions have been declining in the housing and service sectors as the result of a shift from oil to district heating, heat pumps and biofuels for heating.
STOCKHOLM - 'EUROPEAN GREEN CAPITAL'
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, was the first city to receive the award ‘European Green Capital’ in 2010. 'As the first European Green Capital, Stockholm is committed to being a role model, to inspire other cities and spread best practice across Europe and the rest of the world’
HAMMARBY SJÖSTAD
Development of the internationally renowned Sustainable City district (Hammarby Sjöstad), one of Stockholm’s largest urban development projects with a strong environmental profile, got under way as early as 1990.
During the development of Sustainable City, the vision of a sustainable urban district was transformed into a detailed environmental program. The ultimate objective was to reduce total environmental impact by 50%, in comparison to a typical area constructed at the start of the 1990s. However, more stringent environmental demands required a completely new set of solutions. This included a closed-loop system – the Hammarby Sjöstad model – with solutions for energy, waste, water and sewerage.
EUROPE’S ‘FIRST CARBON-NEUTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD’: WESTERN HARBOUR IN MALMÖ CITY
With a smart heating and cooling system and renewable energy, the city district of Västra Hamnen (Western Harbor), in Malmö, Sweden has established itself as the first carbon-neutral neighborhood in Europe, says Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu.
The city of Malmö received a Special Mention award at the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize jointly with Copenhagen, Denmark for their “close collaboration at government and business levels, and shared vision of a holistic set of economic, environmental and socially sustainable goals.”
Source: National Geographic Magazine, 2012
STOCKHOLM ROYAL SEAPORT RECEIWED AN AWARD FOR BEST SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN THE CATEGORY SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
In competition with other urban development projects around the world, Stockholm and Stockholm Royal Seaport received an award for best sustainable urban development project in the category Sustainable Communities. The award was presented at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris 2015 by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network connecting more than 80 of the world’s megacities. The award is proof that Stockholm is an international leader in sustainable urban development.
SWEDEN GETS HIGHEST SCORE IN SDG INDEX 2017
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index score signifies a country’s position between the worst (0) and best (100) outcomes. Sweden’s overall index score of 85.6 suggests that the country is on average 85.6% of the way to the best possible outcome across the 17 SDGs.
Source: Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network
DECOUPLING CO2 EMISSIONS FROM GDP GROWTH IS POSSIBLE
With the highest level of CO2 tax worldwide, Sweden provides strong evidence that decoupling GDP growth from CO2 emissions is possible and that CO2 tax is an efficient way of achieving a decrease in CO2 emission with fossil origin.
WASTE AS A RESOURCE
Sweden recovers more energy from each tonne of waste than any other country.
Sweden has extensive and efficient waste management systems in place and municipal waste in landfills is almost non-existent. About 99 per cent of all household waste is recycled as energy or materials, putting Sweden at the top in this area.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
The continued push towards the development and implementation of green technologies has enabled Sweden to become the first country in Europe to meet the renewable energy targets set by EU for 2020. Eight years ahead of schedule.
The most important domestic renewable energy source is biofuel, although organic wastes from households and industry also constitute an important fraction.
WASTE & WASTE WATER
Sweden has one of the most far-reaching standards for effluent in treated wastewater in the world. Sewage treatment plants were introduced as early as the 1930s.
Swedish companies have remained at the forefront of global innovation for securing sustainable water supplies for today and tomorrow, and there have been a number of innovations in the form of practical solutions for treating wastewater, sewage and brackish water, and for improving the quality of the groundwater.
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
Sweden has a long history of sustainable transport. In addition to biofuels, Sweden has dedicated resources to the development and implementation of electric car technologies, batteries, charging infrastructure and fuel cells.