AT the European Commission award ceremony in Brussels held last year, Stockholm was named European Green Capital for 2010. The award is presented to a city with a record of achieving high environmental standards, is committed to ambitious goals for further environmental and sustainable improvement, and can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practices in other European cities.
Stockholm has an historical track record of integrated urban management, also confirmed by its ongoing credible green credentials.
Stockholm has set itself an ambitious target of becoming fossil free by 2050. Some 85 per cent of the population lives less than 300 metres from green areas that improve the local quality of life, bringing recreation, water purification, noise reduction, and an enhancement of biodiversity and ecology.
The city was commended for its programme for future improvements such as the creation of more beaches for bathing and improving an integrated waste system which offered high recycling rates, especially of bio-waste, using underground vacuum controlled systems.
Also, a pioneer congestion charging system has reduced car use, increased use of public transport and reduced emissions, and the city can boast a 25 per cent reduction in per capita CO2 emissions since 1990, bringing the emissions to about half the national Swedish average.