A cooperation - between the Gothenburg City (SE) administration for social welfare allocation and two local IKEA department stores - was launched in 2014 to provide homeless people with a step towards the labour market. The partnership enables people who have lived with isolation and abuse to strengthen their self-esteem, gain meaningful work and furnish their homes.IKEA's recovery department has furniture that they can no longer sell because of transport damage to packaging or to the products themselves. Participants use a truck to pick up the discarded pieces of furniture at IKEA, fix them in a workshop, then display the repaired items. Other people in the group can then choose the furniture they need. A win-win situation: the participants, and the furniture, all get their second chance.

The second chance: a collaboration between Gothenberg and IKEA

The Climate Programme embodies Gothenburg’s long-term climate work, which
includes not only the municipal organisation but also industry and the people
of the city. The programme is the result of broad-based collaboration between
a number of city administrations and companies as well as different bodies and
experts from both industry and research fields. It is a policy document acting
as a source of support and security while addressing long-term choice of
direction and investment options. The Climate Programme includes objectives
and strategies that help in achieving the ambition of reaching an equitable
and sustainable level of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The programme is
directed primarily at politicians and public officials in the City of
Gothenburg but will also function as a guide for industry, other local
stakeholders and the inhabitants of the city. Apart from the local
environmental quality objective and the intermediate objectives, there are
nine strategy objectives in the Climate Programme. The strategy areas are (1)
climate smart citizen: have knowledge and show decisiveness; support citizens
to reduce their climate impact and educate a new generation of climate smart
citizens; (2) resource-efficient urban planning: plan for an energy and
transport-efficient society; contribute to a climate-smart regional expansion;
(3) efficient energy use and conversion to renewables: increase resource
efficiency in district heating, improve energy efficiency in municipal
property holdings, improve energy efficiency in private property holdings,
promote energy efficiency in industry, continue to invest in district cooling,
further develop large-scale production of renewable electricity, promote and
facilitate small scale production of renewable electricity and lead biogas
development; (4) reduced climate stress from travel and transport: prioritise
and invest in the travel modes walking, cycling and public transport, work
towards a more energy-efficient vehicle fleet and promote the use of fuels
with low climate impact, use and develop policy instruments to reduce car
traffic, become a world leader in climate-smart cargo handling, reduce the
climate impact of construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure,
facilitate and encourage shipping that is energy efficient and fossil free;
and (5) climate-conscious consumption:reduce the climate impact of food in our
organisation, reduce our purchases of resource-intensive goods, prevent waste
and promote recycling, promote sustainable activities and promote alternatives
to air travel.



Climate Programme

Green Gothenburg works to increase national and international recognition of
the Gothenburg region as a leader in environmental and sustainable
development. It seeks to strengthen international business for local companies
and attract investments and enterprises to the Gothenburg region. For
visitors, it provides high-quality study tours, expertise, inspiration and
useful business contacts. It offers services to decision-makers in the public
and private sectors who are facing environment-related challenges in a global
market, and to regional companies seeking international business partners.



Green Gothenburg

The Environmental Programme includes an action plan with actions for all the City of Gothenburg (administration and companies), based on 12 objectives:- reduced climate impact;- non-toxic environment;- low noise environment, reduced climate impact, which includes a range of actions related to lifestyle, food and cultivation, energy efficiency and freight transport;- more sustainable travel through actions related to parking, speed, cycling, walking and reducing the climate impact from road traffic;- improved resource management, with actions that include reuse and recycle of goods and products;- healthier living environment through actions to reduce emissions and pollutants in the air, land, lakes and oceans;- promoting biological diversity, mainly through agricultural practices; accessible and varied parks and nature areas;- City Council actions to ensure the city of Gothenburg as a forerunner, which includes actions on municipal operations, travel and transport, procurement and education for sustainable development.

Gothenburg's Environmental programme

While the city of Gothenburg has a high rate of recycling, the amount of waste generated by the city is still high. This is why the city has started a program to promote higher-level ways of value retention such as repairing and reusing goods, in order to minimise the amount of waste generated by 30% until 2030. The city has set itself clear goals to incentivise the departments of the municipality as well as its citizens to avoid and reduce waste. It also opened four repair spaces in order to let products last longer, and collaborate with businesses in the city. Under the program, Gothenburg employs three full-time employees to push circularity in the city.

Gothenburg reduces waste

The city of Gothenburg has co-launched an online map that compiles and showcases local rent, share, borrow, give, and exchange initiatives. The Smart Map helps residents identify opportunities to practically engage in the circular economy.&nbsp;This initiative is part of Gothenburg´s efforts to promote a sharing economy in collaboration with stakeholders from academia, the private sector and community initiatives.

Digital platform to showcase sharing initiatives, Gothenburg

Circular Gothenburg is an initiative from the City of Gothenburg.&nbsp;The purpose of the initiative is to drive the transition from a linear to a circular economy. It focuses on resource efficiency to reduce climate change and achieve circular material flows. It has three target groups: citizens, city departments and businesses. For all three target groups, the goal is to make it simple, straightforward and attractive to participate in transformational circular work.&nbsp;Therefore, Circular Gothenburg is about:- To make it easy for Gothenburgers and visitors to reuse, share and repair.&nbsp;The City of Gothenburg will use its own resources to facilitate, plan and support concrete solutions in the Gothenburg area, for example, through do-it-yourself workshops or neighborhood businesses where people can repair, borrow, exchange and build new from old.- That the City of Gothenburg, together with business actors, should offer attractive solutions that encourage sustainable consumption.&nbsp;For example, by working for more circular business locations in central Gothenburg, but also by stimulating business actors to design and produce smarter products and services.&nbsp;For example, by setting circular requirements when purchasing for the city's own operations.- That the City of Gothenburg should lead by example by switching from a linear to a circular economy within its own administrations and companies.&nbsp;For example, by reusing, repairing and repairing furniture, instead of throwing it away and buying new.&nbsp;It is also about reusing more and reducing construction and demolition waste when we renovate and build new.