The city of Tampere’s government has approved the City’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

Tampere’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent compared to 1990 and the remaining 20 per cent will be offset. The Tampere strategy supports Finland’s goal of carbon neutrality and is in line with the actions of other large cities.

Climate measures

The city’s climate measures programme has been compiled into the Carbon Neutral Tampere 2030 roadmap together with the city’s service areas and units.

According to Tampere, the roadmap contains 236 measures that can reduce emissions by about 70 per cent from current levels by 2030. The actions are divided into six themes: urban planning; transport system; construction; energy; consumption; and urban nature.

Cited among the most effective emission reduction measures are the renewal of the Naistenlahti power plant, the reform of bus propulsion and an increase in energy advice.

In order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, Tampere reports, additional investments will be needed in the coming years, especially in public transport, improving light transport routes, increasing energy advice to residents and housing associations, and promoting the municipal energy efficiency agreement.

The roadmap notes it is essential to involve the city’s stakeholders, companies, communities and residents in climate work.

Energy group Tampereen Sähkölaitos, in particular, has successfully switched to the use of renewable energy and developed its business

For the base city, the annual costs for the 2021-2030 programming period are estimated at around €9m. The current plan does not take a position on the financing of costs but will be dealt with in the context of the draft budgets.

Tampere claims many of the climate measures are financially viable for the city and its subsidiaries. Of the city’s companies, energy group Tampereen Sähkölaitos, in particular, has successfully switched to the use of renewable energy and developed its business.

For the city, for instance, switching from street lighting to LED lights brings significant savings. Through its own measures, the city reckons it can also promote new business and utilise carbon neutrality in urban and tourism marketing. Some of the costs can be covered by other funding, such as state aid and customer revenues.

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