Gothenburg selected as mentor city to lead Europe’s green transition

European cities have a key role to play in realising the EU's Green Deal. The European Commission wants to help cities turn ambitions to reduce carbon emissions into concrete action. The best way forward is to develop strategies that drive innovative solutions by signing green deals with the local business community, according to the European Commission. 

Impressed by the collaboration between the city and industry

Under the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) initiative, ten cities have been selected to coach and support others in this process for two years. Gothenburg is the only Swedish city among the mentors. 

“Gothenburg is internationally recognised as an exemplary sustainability leader, with its strong commitment to become fossil-independent by 2030. This comes with concrete actions to reduce greenhouse-gas-emissions notably in the energy, renovation and mobility sectors,” says Dana Eleftheriadou, Head of the Cities and Proximity Team, DG GROW, European Commission. 

“Our team was particularly impressed by its commendable collaborations with local industry such as Volvo and looks forward to seeing how this important partnership will ensure cleaner mobility in the city and provide further inspiration for ICC cities,” she adds.

For Gothenburg, which has already been named as one of the EU's 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030, this is an important recognition. 

“We are proud and happy to have the chance to inspire others. Both with what we achieve and how we do it: through our local green deals,” says Maria Strömberg, Director of Clusters and Innovation at Business Region Göteborg.

Long tradition of co-creation 

Gothenburg has many examples of fruitful collaborations between the city and companies, often involving academia. 

• Gothenburg is considered one of the world's most sustainable city destinations. This would not be possible without close collaboration between the city and the local tourism industry. 

• The close collaboration within ElectriCity has paved the way for Gothenburg to have the most electric buses in public transport of all Nordic cities. 

• Together with industry, the Port of Gothenburg is focusing on cutting carbon emissions of long-distance transport by 70% until 2030, within the Transzero Initiative. 

• Business Region Göteborg has the main responsibility for making the transport system in the city emission-free, mainly by transitioning to electrified transport and the Gothenburg Green City Zone initiative. The initiative has been launched together with Volvo Cars and Rise Research Insitutes of Sweden, but is open to others who want to test new solutions.

• In close partnership with the construction and property industry, Gothenburg is taking great strides towards climate-neutral construction and more reuse. Well over a hundred stakeholders are participating.

“These are examples of how, through the processes we have developed and the green deals we have in place, we are steering collaboration towards a common vision and stimulating innovation. This is moving us forward towards the 2030 goals. At the same time, the companies involved strengthen their competitiveness and can export more,” says Maria Strömberg.

The programme starts immediately

The Intelligent Cities Challenge support programme will kick off with a strategy conference in Brussels on 23-24 November with the participation of all designated mentor cities. In addition to Gothenburg, these include a couple of Danish, German and Portuguese cities, as well as Amsterdam, Espoo in Finland and Toronto. Together they will spend two years coaching and inspiring representatives from 65 other European cities.

“By sharing how we do things, meeting others and reflecting on what others do, we will learn and become even better at home,” says Maria Strömberg.