Europe´s best climate city
Turku mayor hopes to turn her city green by 2029
Published : 11 Aug 2020, 01:24
Updated : 11 Aug 2020, 01:29
Turku Mayor Minna Arve said they have undertaken all the necessary measures to reduce carbon emissions to make the city environment friendly.
Talking to the Daily Finland, she, however, emphasised constant and strong commitment to implementation and governance of the measures to attain the goal.
“I believe that by acting responsibly, the City of Turku and our subsidiaries can significantly reduce the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from our operations, demonstrate climate leadership and become a model,” said the mayor of Turku, which has been awarded the Best Mid-Sized Climate City in Europe this year by the European Covenant of Mayors.
The Covenant is a community of European cities putting effort to work on climate and energy issues in the green continent. This network introduces cities that not only have set a determined climate policy but also have taken effective and beneficial measures to achieve their goals.
Due to the COVID-19 situation and cancellation of the Award Ceremony that was slated for 4 March at the European Parliament, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson announced the winners in a video-speech released on 17 June. The evaluation was carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre’s director-general and the Office of the European Covenant of Mayors and based on the cities’ applications plus the extensive set of data and reporting submitted by the cities to the Covenant of Mayors.
Regarding the process of choosing the candidates and winner, Arve explained that the committee evaluates the cities based on a set of criteria, such as commitment, monitoring of the results, stakeholders’ involvement, Action Plan financing, administration, and governance.
To achieve this notable success, Turku is implementing an ambitious and comprehensive climate plan that is adopted unanimously by the city council, said the mayor.
More than 10,000 cities and regions with more than 320 million inhabitants joined the European Covenant of Mayors. The foremost aims of this network are accelerating the decarburization of European cities, strengthening the adaption capacity of unavoidable climate change impacts, and providing the opportunity for citizens to access secure, sustainable, and affordable energy.
“The other issue that should be considered is the economy. The roadmap of the circular economy will clarify targets and identify necessary interventions soon,” Arve told the Daily Finland, adding that “there is no doubt that we cannot reach the goal of living in a carbon neutral city without all the local and international actors collaborating.”
The City of Turku has been part of the European Covenant of Mayors since 2010 and has benefited in setting targets, defining actions, monitoring progress, and sharing experiences in a unified format between thousands of cities in Europe, said the mayor.
“Decarbonisation of the energy system in Turku, promoting low carbon sustainable mobility, developing sustainable urban structure, and strengthening carbon sinks were the most significant steps of the climate policy of Turku adopted last year,” she said.
“More accurately we can refer to the high speed of transforming the energy system from fossils to renewables. Currently, greenhouse gas emissions in the region have dropped by a third compare to the level of 1990, and the rate of emissions will be halved by 2021,” Arve explained.
If all the steps are implemented successfully, the main aims of Turku’s climate policy are to become a climate-positive area by 2029, to prepare for the impacts of climate change, and to promote the circular economy. Arve described,
“We must support everyone to reach 1.5-degree life. It means that businesses should provide climate-friendly solutions and transform some of their ongoing routines, citizens should participate actively in finding their way to reach a sustainable and green lifestyle”. All these actions would facilitate the road of approaching the ultimate goal that is building a society with no waste, no emissions, and sustainable use of natural resources,” the mayor said.