Lahti in Finland - Climate protection via app
Finland is known for technological progress and climate awareness. The people in the Finnish city of Lahti want to combine both. They monitor their CO2 footprint in order to reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions - via smartphone app.
Niko Suuvisilta quickly checks his WhatsApp messages to see what the weather will be like tomorrow in southern Finland - and how much CO2 he has already used today. A good kilo, that's a decent value, thinks the 28-year-old and takes another look at his smartphone:
“This is our CitiCAP app. I can see my individual CO2 consumption here at a glance. The app automatically detects and saves how I move around: whether I'm walking, cycling, taking the car or a train. Let's take today: Here you can see that I left, then there was no movement for two hours, then I took the bus to work. If I click on that now, I can see exactly on a map where and for how long I was traveling - and that the bus trip consumed 1.1 kilograms of CO2. "
The smartphone app is still in the test phase
Niko Suuvisilta is one of 600 test users of the CO2 app in Lahti, a city of 120,000 people, an hour and a half north-east of Helsinki. The meaning and purpose of the urban project: Users can be followed digitally and find out how much harmful CO2 they produce every day. In principle, each resident should not consume more than 25 kilograms of CO2 per week, depending on their living conditions. Niko Suuvisilta continues:
“And if I stay below this limit at the end of the week, then I get points in a kind of virtual currency. I can then redeem it every four weeks for bus tickets, a bag or a bicycle repair. "
Back in 2010, when global warming and climate change were primarily a topic among scientists and environmental activists, the city decided to halve its per capita CO2 emissions by 2025. This goal has long been achieved: In 2018 the CO2 reduction per inhabitant was 70 percent compared to 1990. Now the city wants to be climate neutral by 2025, 25 years earlier than the "European Green Deal" drafted by the European Commission says Saara Vauramo. The ecologist is working in the city administration to ensure that the formerly gray Lahti actually becomes greener and greener.
On this March morning she is standing at the gates of an extensive power station on the outskirts of Lahti. Because of Covid-19 we are not allowed to enter the premises. Saara Vauramo:
“In the 1990s, Lahti was one of those typical cities in Finland that all used coal as an energy source. Back then, we generated over 80 percent of our energy by burning coal. We have had the second block in operation here since 2012: a waste incineration plant - but not an ordinary one. We shred and heat the garbage, creating a gas that is then burned. As a result, the plant has twice the energy efficiency of conventional waste incineration plants. "
The city of Lahti aims to be climate neutral by 2025
The third block of the plant has also been producing electricity and heat since autumn 2019: This is where wood residues from the region's sawmills and furniture factories are burned. According to Saara Vauramo, this not only avoids emissions from long transport routes, but also promotes the local economy - and is CO2-neutral, since a renewable raw material is used, which in turn binds CO2. Saara Vauramo:
“In any case, this rethinking in the energy sector is crucial to the fact that we have drastically reduced our emissions. In the 1990s we had per capita CO2 emissions of eleven tons per year. Today we are at 2.5 tons: the result of radical steps that were taken in Lahti. "
And that is also honored by the EU: Brussels has awarded the small Lahti the “European Green Capital 2021”, as a sustainable model for other European cities and regions.
