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Wonderful Copenhagen becomes the Worlds first Carbon Neutral Capital by 2025

Photo: Kontraframe

Video from World Economic Forum
Article main source: https://international.kk.dk/

Copenhagens Ambitious Goals

The City of Copenhagen has set itself ambitious goals for the city’s social, economic and environmental development. Copenhagen is to be carbon neutral by 2025 as the first capital in the world.

We will achieve these goals through a transition of our energy supply, building retrofits, waste management, public infrastructure, and mobility, as well as other key initiatives to support the transition on both a short-term and long-term basis. It is our vision that the ambitious goals are implemented in a way that secures and improves the quality of life in Copenhagen and creates opportunities for innovation, jobs and green growth. The transition to a green economy in Copenhagen cannot happen in one year or through the efforts of each individual stakeholders alone.

Therefore, Copenhagen is collaborating with companies and knowledge institutions to find new solutions to specific challenges. The City of Copenhagen is also striving to increase documentation of its green efforts and to target new initiatives based on available data and evidence.

In 2014 the London School of Economics showed in a report based on extensive analysis why they consider Copenhagen to be a “green economy leader”. Even to those familiar with the Copenhagen story, it makes impressive reading. Among many other things, the report shows that Copenhagen has managed over a long time horizon to develop into a very compact and transport-effective city, even compared with other cities such as Stockholm and London.

As The Capital of Sustainable Development Copenhagen welcomes the UN SDG’S

Copenhagen welcomes the UN SDG’S and looks forward to the realization of the goals both locally and globally.  The City of Copenhagen’s action plan for the UN SDG’s contains an overview of the city’s current contribution to the realization of the goals as well as a plan for the municipality’s strategic anchoring of the SDG’s in its work going forward.
Developing action plans as the civil level is voluntary, but essential if the UN’s 2030 agenda is to be realized. It is the first time that non-state actors such as cities, regions, institutions, and companies have been encouraged to take the lead in sustainable development. This is also why the 17 SDGs and the 169 targets can be adapted to local contexts.

The City of Copenhagen’s action plan is a contribution to the global discourse on operationalizing the SDGs at the city level in relation to social, economic and environmental sustainability as well as the first sod in the city’s long-term work with the goals.

The City of Copenhagen welcomes the UN SDGs and looks forward to contributing to their realization, locally in Copenhagen as well as globally!

The SDGs are to be applied to the Copenhagen context

The City of Copenhagen already contributes significantly to the sustainability agenda. The city’s existing policies and strategies all contain ambitious goals in relation to all 17 SDGs, and we are well on our way to achieving them. The climate plan’s goal of a CO2-neutral Copenhagen by 2025 and the goal to ensure that 95% of young people obtain a post-secondary education or higher education are just two examples. International studies such as the Sustainable Solutions Network’s “SDG Index Report” also point towards Denmark being one of the countries with the best prospects for contributing to the realization of the SDGs before 2030.

Copenhagen is helping realize the goals through large parts of the city’s political and administrative efforts as well as abroad through city partnerships such as C40. The aim is to find ways to make the world’s metropolises more sustainable. These partnerships allow Copenhagen to spread its local solutions to cities around the world. The City of Copenhagen is not only striving to become one of the most sustainable cities in the world; it must also be one of the cities that has the highest impact on making the world more sustainable.

What do the 17 SDGs mean to cities?

70% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by 2050. A sustainable world, therefore, starts with sustainable cities. All 17 SDGs are relevant to metropolises, and with Goal 11 on sustainable cities, the world’s cities have been given a key role in achieving the goals by 2030. This applies not least to Denmark, which is at the forefront when it comes to decentralization. No less than 64 % of public expenditure is administrated by municipalities and regions, which places Denmark in third place globally in terms of economic decentralization according to the OECD.

The City of Copenhagen looks forward to working together with other Danish municipalities, regions and the Danish government on the SDGs. Copenhagen aims to work together with global metropolises, sharing solutions and inspiring efforts to realize the overarching goal on a more sustainable world by 2030.

Read the City of Copenhagen’s action plan

Follow the City of Copenhagen’s SDG-Twitter here: https://twitter.com/CitySdg

PDFThe Capital of Sustainable Development_Sustainable Development Goals_2018

An Internationally-Connected Region

The City of Copenhagen is engaged in regional and international relations. To expand the visibility of the solutions that are employed, tested and demonstrated in Copenhagen we work to promote the city as an international showcase for smart green solutions. We do this by establishing showcase platforms, membership of international city networks and other means that showcase the solutions to a wider global audience. On the regional level, Copenhagen cooperates closely with the neighboring regions in order to create an attractive business region.

C40

Copenhagen is an active player within the C40, a network of some of the world’s largest cities, which recognize the need for cities to take action and cooperate on reducing climate emissions.
In 2014, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen was elected to the Steering Committee of C40 and represents the 20 Innovator cities in C40 which demonstrate clear leadership in environmental and climate change work.  http://www.c40.org/

Eurocities

Eurocities is a network of major European cities, representing more than 120 million Europeans in 140 cities. The network cooperates with EU institutions to respond to issues that impact the day-to-day lives of citizens. The political work aims at influencing European legislation in a way that allows cities to address strategic challenges such as climate, growth, and employment at the local level in an effective and innovative way. Eurocities’ thematic forums, working groups, projects and events provide Copenhagen with opportunities to share knowledge, exchange experiences and develop innovative solutions together with other large member cities.
http://www.eurocities.eu/

Greater Copenhagen

Copenhagen cooperates closely with neighboring regions and with the region of Skåne in Sweden to address the increasing global competition in attracting business, tourists, and talent. Under the common brand of ‘Greater Copenhagen’, the region offers great business opportunities, 11 universities, a well-educated workforce, strong infrastructure, and world-class knowledge clusters.
Read more about business opportunities in Copenhagen at Copenhagen Capacity.

Wonderful Copenhagen becomes the Worlds first Carbon Neutral Capital by 2025

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