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Synopsis

In Stockholm, more than 4 million journeys are made per day. 10 million tonnes of goods also come in and out or transit through the city each year. The market share of public transport is quite high (55%). The number of private cars on the roads, however, keeps on increasing.

As in many cities, road traffic is the main source of pollution in Stockholm (between 70 and 80% of emissions). The transport sector is also the largest energy consumer in the city (20% of total energy consumed).

One of the solutions to improve the quality of life and the environmental situation in the long run consists in using renewable energy. The City of Stockholm operates Europe's largest fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles. These are far superior to petrol and diesel driven vehicles in terms of emissions -and more often than not, make less noise. More clean vehicles means better air quality and fewer health problems.

At present, the City of Stockholm operates 600 alternative-fuel cars, the public transport authority 250 ethanol-powered inner city buses, and a number of different types of heavy trucks run on renewable forms of fuel (e.g. biogas). It has become common for businesses to add on alternative-fuel cars, and their numbers are steadily increasing throughout Sweden.

In 1994, Stockholm City took the decision to invest in and promote clean vehicles. The goal was set to 5% of total sold new vehicles in Stockholm. At that point the market is expected to run by itself. Stepwise development has been as follows:

• co-operation with fuel companies to set up stations for electric charging, ethanol and biogas;
• Government support for the purchase of the initial electric vehicles;
• common procurement of electric vehicles for Stockholm City and other cities in order to obtain a significant reduction of prices;
• overcoming barriers in legislation and taxation by lobbying. This resulted in reduced fuel tax, free parking for certain clean vehicle users, reduced tax for private use of company clean vehicles;
• obtaining new ideas through co-operation with other cities, e.g. in European projects such as ZEUS, ELCIDIS, E-TOUR, MOSES and TRENDSETTER;
• co-operation with car dealers to ensure proper service of the vehicles;
• official policy for all administrations within Stockholm City to choose clean vehicles only;
• continuously building up of a clean vehicle fleet through framework agreements with car dealers;
• creating incentives for private companies to purchase clean vehicles (test vehicles available for free, economic subsidies, cost calculation service on the City website, free parking and charging for electric vehicles);
• continuous dissemination of news and results through newsletters and the City website.

Target groups: employers / employees - municipal staff
Fields: public transport - responsible car use / mobility plans

This case study is one of 175 projects from the Smile Project Local Experiences Database listed on this website.