On August 23, 2012 an overwhelming majority of the Copenhagen City Council adopted an ambitious climate plan for the city. The plan, entitled CPH 2025, builds on a 2009 climate plan in which the city set out to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions to 20 percent of 2005 levels by 2015 and to become carbon neutral by 2025, making it the first national capital to do so. Copenhagen already met the first target in 2011, four years ahead of schedule, despite the fact that the city’s population grew by ten percent over the same period.
CPH 2025 mirrors the climate plan set out by the Danish government to vastly reduce the country’s carbon footprint and end its reliance on fossil fuels for energy production by 2035. The city released approximately 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2011, a figure that would drop to 1.16 tons a year in 2025 if no new initiatives were introduced. Extensive retrofitting of buildings, reorganisation of the energy supply and changes in transport habits are some of many initiatives the City of Copenhagen will implement in order to achieve its carbon neutral goal. Some of the key targets include:
Energy consumption:
- 20% reduction of heat consumption.
- 20% reduction of commercial and 10% reduction of residential electricity consumption.
- Installation of photovoltaic cells to generate 1% of 2025 Copenhagen’s electricity.
Energy production:
- Carbon neutral district heating.
- Electricity produced by wind and biomass will exceed the total energy consumption of Copenhagen.
- Separation of commercial and residential plastic waste.
- Bio-gasification of organic waste.
Transportation:
- 75% of overall trips in Copenhagen will be on foot, bike or public transport.
- 50% of school or work commuting trips will be by bike.
- 20% increase in public transport passengers.
- Carbon neutral public transport.
- 20-30% of light vehicles will use renewable energy like biogas or hydrogen.
- 30-40% of heavy vehicles will use renewable energy.
City administration:
- 40% reduction of energy consumption in municipal buildings.
- New municipal constructions till 2015 will meet the requirements of the 2015 classification.
- New municipal constructions till 2020 will meet the requirements of the 2020 classification.
- City of Copenhagen vehicles will run on electricity, hydrogen or bio-fuels
- 50% reduction of street lighting energy consumption.
- 60,000 square meters of solar panelling will be installed on municipal buildings.
CPH 2025 offers a holistic vision for the city that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by transitioning energy production away from coal and toward biomass, wind and solar energy, while also reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency in transport, housing, heating and industry. The plan will cost the city about 2.7 billion kroner before 2025, although additional private investments of between 20 and 25 billion kroner will be needed from the private sector in order for the city to meet its targets.