This tallies with the Swedish government’s goal to to become the world’s first fossil-fuel free nation as part of their commitment under Roadmap 2050.
STOCKHOLM: As sustainability grows to be the key deciding factor for governmental, business and corporate decisions moving foward, there is no better country to learn from than Sweden.
The Nordic country is one of the pioneers in recognising and combatting climate change: Sweden came first in Earth.Org’s Global Sustainability Index 2020, where Earth.Org examines the policies and actions regarding the environment of every nation on earth.
Gothenburg, a city in Sweden, has ranked as the world’s most sustainable destination according to the Global Destination Sustainability Index for the sixth time in a row. In 2021, Lonely Planet named Gothenburg the world’s Best sustainable city stay.
It would be remiss not to mention that Sweden has raised one of the world’s leading environmentalist activists, Gretha Thunberg.
As the first country in the world to pass an environmental protection act in 1967, Sweden also hosted the first United Nations conference on the global environment in 1972.
Since then, Sweden has not looked back, managing to grow its economy substantially while reducing carbon emissions and limiting pollution.
Around 60 per cent of Sweden’s national energy supply comes from renewables, and a thorough legislation aims at further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“For more than a decade, Sweden has been in the top ten of the globally respected Environmental Performance Index produced by Columbia and Yale universities, with exceptionally clean air and clean water alongside its low emissions,” the country said on its official website.
“There is still much to be done, though, and being one of the world’s wealthiest countries increases Sweden’s overall environmental footprint. It might seem an impossible struggle, but previous successes on everything from tackling acid rain to recycling show that environment and development can go hand in hand.”
It would be remiss not to mention that Sweden has raised one of the world’s leading environmentalist activists, Gretha Thunberg. — AFP photo
And as Sweden holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2023, green and energy transitions make up one of the four priorities of its six-month tenure.
“Economic actors profit from operating in the largest single market in the world and compete successfully on world markets, laying the foundations for European wealth, welfare and international standing.
“The EU must continue to provide the best possible conditions for a sound and open economy based on free competition, private investment and successful digitalisation.
“The Swedish Presidency will seek to anchor a concerted approach to European competitiveness at the top of the political agenda.
“The Swedish Presidency will continue efforts to tackle high and volatile energy prices while addressing long-term energy market reform.
“The global climate challenge requires a global response. Europe must lead by example, by delivering on ambitious climate goals, boosting growth and competitiveness.”
This tallies with the Swedish government’s goal to to become the world’s first fossil-fuel free nation as part of their commitment under Roadmap 2050.
To do this, Sweden must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as compared with 1990 levels by 40 per cent by the year 2020, and have a vehicle fleet completely rid of fossil fuels by 2030.
The Swedish government will invest 4.4 billion krone (US$633 Million) of its 2016 budget in solar and wind energy, smart grids and clean transport.
The budget increase will be financed through heavy taxes on petrol and diesel fuel, as well as through airport and nuclear plant closures and the sale of coal mines.
Last month, BizHive joined two other media from Malaysia in an exclusive trip to Stockholm, Sweden to delve into the many sustainability initiatives made by the Swedish government as well as companies in the energy, ports and waste management sectors:
Sweden’s environmental milestones
- 1967 – Sweden was the first country to establish an environmental protection agency, Naturvårdsverket.
- 1972 – Sweden hosted the first UN conference on the environment, which led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the leading global environmental authority to this day.
- 1995 – Sweden was one of the first countries to introduce a carbon tax, which has helped reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
- 1998 and 2002 – Sweden was one of the first nations to sign and ratify the international climate change treaty Kyoto Protocol.
- 2001 – The Stockholm Convention, largely a Swedish initiative, was a global treaty aimed at phasing out the production and use of persistent organic pollutants.
- 2017 – Sweden ranked third in the Global Cleantech Innovation Index.
- 2018 – Sweden’s renewable share of the total energy consumption is was nearly 55 per cent.
- 2020 – Sweden ranked second in the Global Innovation Index and topped the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index.
- 2021 – Sweden ranked second in the UN Sustainable Development Report and the Global Innovation Index, and topped the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index.
- 2030 – Goal: The Swedish transport sector is fossil-free.
- 2045 – Goal: Sweden is fossil-free and, thus, climate-neutral.
The pilot plant at Vartan will likely be the largest of its kind in the world and showcases the potential to create carbon sinks through bioenergy carbon capture and storage.
Sweden forms first bioenergy CCS plant
IN its journey towards a carbon-negative energy production, Sweden’s first bioenergy carbon capture and storage pilot plant was commissioned in 2019. This project is a part of Stockholm’s target towards a positive carbon footprint by 2040.
As early as 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate panel concluded that reducing CO2 emissions was not enough to meet the Paris agreement objectives. What was also needed, it said, was to cut the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through ‘negative emissions’ or ‘carbon sinks’.
One method to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Sweden is taking this technology one step further by incorporating bioenergy into the mix – thus forming BECCS. This involves carbon dioxide from the combustion of biofuels being separated, compressed into liquid form and then stored deep underground.
The pioneering BECCS project started in 2019 at the Värtaverket bio-cogeneration plant in Stockholm. With the support of the Swedish Energy Agency, municipal energy company Stockholm Exergi has installed a test facility that aims to establish the technology for separating carbon dioxide from flue gases.
Värtaverket is among the first in the world to test this technology in an operating environment.
The bio-cogeneration plant in Värtan uses biofuel to produce district heating and electricity. The combustion provides biogenic CO2 that will ‘return’ to plants through photosynthesis, creating a climate-neutral cycle. Sweden has well-established infrastructure for biomass, so the prerequisites for a successful implementation of BECCS are already in place.
On a recent visit to the Vartan plant, Stockholm Exergi’s head of research and development, Fabian Levihn, showed us the CCS test unit.
“This test facility was made to verify that you can use this particular technology on a plant like this one,” he said.
“Our mission is to have full scale by 2026. And it works really well. So we started by confirming that the technology would fit with obviously doing research how to improve the process, evaluate different catalysts. That is how we’ve found a way to do this and actually get more energy out.
“We are now in the process of procuring for a full-scale system and we are talking to suppliers about how to improve the technology and integrate with the plant as effectively as possible.”
The technology that Stockholm Exergi has chosen for the project in Värtahamnen is Hot Potassium Carbonate (HPC), also known as carbon scrubbing. HPC involves mixing inorganic compound potassium carbonate with a gas mixture, with the resulting liquid absorbing carbon dioxide through chemical processes.
It has been assessed as the technology that best meets the requirements for a plant such as Värtaverket. This is because of the high energy efficiency, space requirements, high availability, scalability, environmental sustainability and the relatively low risk associated with the technology.
Stockholm Exergi’s calculations show the potential to capture up to 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year at Vartaverket’s CHP plant. Including Greater Stockholm and businesses, the potential is two million tonnes a year, which is roughly equivalent to the CO2 emissions from all road traffic in Stockholm.
The pilot plant at Vartan will likely be the largest of its kind in the world and showcases the potential to create carbon sinks through bioenergy carbon capture and storage.
HDVC is highly efficient for transmitting large amounts of electricity over long distances, integration of renewables and interconnecting grids, opening up for new sustainable transmission solutions.
Hitachi Energy: Towards fossil-free electricity in its operations
AS a leading provider of high-voltage direct current (HVDC), grid connections, and power quality solutions, specialising in the integration of renewables into the power grids and engineering excellence, Hitachi Energy is well-versed in creating a carbon-neutral energy system.
HDVC is highly efficient for transmitting large amounts of electricity over long distances, integration of renewables and interconnecting grids, opening up for new sustainable transmission solutions.
Earlier this week, Hitachi Energy inaugurated a new HVDC and power quality factory in Chennai. These pioneering solutions are key for growth in transmission, especially for the integration of renewables and electrical grid stability.
The new factory will manufacture advanced power electronics for HVDC Light, HVDC Classic, and STATCOM, together with MACH control and protection system, the brain behind our advanced transmission and power quality solutions. It will deliver advanced solutions to support the acceleration of the energy transition, enabling Hitachi Energy to increase its production capacity.
This factory will serve both the fast growing Indian market as well as the large global demand for clean energy solutions to integrate renewables at scale and at speed that it is needed.
It is the latest HVDC factory built and the world’s second testing lab of power quality control solutions. It will cater to the rising number of high-voltage transmission projects in India and export to support global HVDC installations.
As electricity becomes the backbone of the future energy system, India has set the target to meet half of the total power generation from renewables by 2030.
Achieving this will require the bulk transmission of clean energy over long distances and balancing the national grid for intermittencies, for which HVDC and power quality are the ideal solutions.
“To get to a sustainable, flexible and secure energy system, both sustainability and energy security will be at the center of the efforts for advancing a sustainable energy future for all,” said Claudio Facchin, chief executive officer of Hitachi Energy.
“Accelerating and anticipating investments in grid infrastructure and in innovation, people and modern production facilities are of key importance as we can build upon it and expand as the energy system evolves.”
“Within the next few years, India foresees a significant number of HVDC projects to enable India’s net-zero vision,” said N Venu, Managing Director and CEO, India & South Asia, Hitachi Energy.
“Building our new facility will help accelerate production and help our customers to advance a sustainable energy future for all. It is a step towards meeting the increased demands to supply clean, safe, and secure energy solutions.”
HVDC transmission has been a breakthrough in connecting remote renewable generation points with the national grid, transmitting large amounts of electricity with significantly reduced transmission losses and physical footprint.
Hitachi Energy has executed more than half the HVDC links in India, including the North-East Agra link, the world’s first multi-terminal ultra-high voltage link enabling the transmission of a clean power supply for 90 million people, as well as the 6,000-megawatt Raigarh-Pugalur link, transmitting power from central India to consumers in the south, over a distance of 1,830km.
Hitachi Energy has achieved the first-step target set out in its Sustainability 2030 plan – the use of 100 per cent fossil-free electricity in its own operations.
The company is driving towards being carbon-neutral in its own operations by 2030, in line with its Purpose, ‘Advancing a sustainable energy future for all’.
The targeted 50 per cent reduction achieved ahead of plan will amount to approximately 175 kilo tonnes of CO2e per year, equivalent to removing over 35,000 passenger cars off the road.
To achieve 100 per cent fossil-free electricity in its own operations – and in support of the Hitachi Group’s carbon-neutrality goal – the company has pursued a number of pathways including supporting projects to generate its own fossil-free electricity, such as installing solar roof panels combined with e-meshTM digital solutions for distributed energy resources maximizing energy efficiency and minimising CO2 emissions.
To achieve full fossil-free electricity, Hitachi Energy has also switched to green tariffs, bought Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), and signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) across its operations and facilities in 90 countries.
Looking ahead, Hitachi Energy is continuing to invest in its journey towards carbon-neutrality by further increasing energy efficiency, as well as electrifying its own operations.
In Ludvika, Sweden, the company is now using 100 per cent renewable electricity generated from hydropower and from solar panels to support its operations.
Ludvika, which is one of Hitachi Energy’s largest production facilities, has gone beyond tackling its electricity supply and is now close to removing the use of all fossil fuels from the whole of its operations.
The company has a track record of implementing its own technologies in its operations to enable the integration of renewable energy. For example, in 2015 its South Africa operations installed a 750 kW rooftop photovoltaic plant and a 1 MVA/380 kWh battery-based PowerStoreTM for enhancing the use of renewables and providing a continuous supply of power.
Through its Sustainability 2030 plan and targets, the company reinforces its commitment to accelerating actions driving business in a sustainable way.
Envac installed the world’s first air-powered waste system in a hospital outside Stockholm in 1961, and began installing tubes for neighborhood trash pickup in parts of Stockholm in the 1970s.
Vacuum systems work well to manage waste
TRASH starts out small, but is accumulatively destructive – and managing waste has been the bane and burden of many city councils.
Disrupting this industry is Swedish company Envac with its underground vacuum waste management system. Chutes, which connect to an underground system of pneumatic tubes, uses high-pressure air to channel garbage away to a handful of centralised collection points.
Envac, the Swedish company that controls most of the trash-tube market, says its infrastructure beautifies city streets, curbs carbon emissions and traffic snarls caused by garbage trucks, and keeps the pests away. The systems can even keep track of how much waste individual households and businesses generate, allowing local governments to tax them accordingly.
Envac installed the world’s first air-powered waste system in a hospital outside Stockholm in 1961, and began installing tubes for neighborhood trash pickup in parts of Stockholm in the 1970s.
Already, there are over 100 Envac systems in Stockholm serving about 120,000 households – roughly 20 per cent of the city. In the neighborhoods with vacuum tubes, residents walk their trash to a set of chutes, which may be built into their apartment buildings or on the street near their doors.
Food waste goes down one chute, en route for a facility that turns it into biofuel. Recyclables go down another. And the third is for mixed waste that will end up in an incinerator.
The truck takes just one trip from the collection point to the dump or recycling facility, instead of making the rounds and stopping at every home and business in the neighborhood. Envac claims this efficiency can curb truck emissions by as much as 90 per cent.
Stockholm has plans to install vacuum waste systems in every new development that includes at least 1,000 homes in a 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) radius. Dahllöf said that density is about the break-even point for a project to make economic sense.
The city is mulling over the idea of retrofitting existing neighborhoods with underground pipes, but that’s a much bigger undertaking which would involve tearing up streets and finding land for new collection facilities.
Globally, Envac’s rate of penetration is increasing, with similar projects having been implemented in Seoul, Stockholm, Beijing, London, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Since 2016, Hybrit has been working to develop the world’s first fossil-free steel through unique technology.
Hybrit: Fossil-fuel steel by 2026
SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall are making a unique joint effort to change the Swedish iron and steel industry fundamentally. Under the name Hybrit, the joint venture are working together to develop the first fossil-free steel.
The Hybrit technology has the potential to reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by at least ten per cent. This is equivalent to one third of the emissions from the industry and may, in the future, help to reduce emissions from iron and steel production globally.
Hybrit will revolutionise the iron and steel industry. SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall have started Hybrit to develop a fossil-free value chain for iron and steel production using fossil-free electricity and hydrogen, thus minimising the carbon dioxide emissions throughout the value chain.
“The Hybrit technology involves replacing the blast furnace process, which uses carbon and coke to remove the oxygen from iron ore, with a direct reduction process where we use fossil-free hydrogen produced from water using electricity from fossil-free energy sources,” a spokesperson said during a visit to to their offices in Stockholm.
“Instead of carbon dioxide, water vapor is formed. We are thus creating the world’s first fossil-free reduction of iron ore to give sponge iron, a central step for fossil-free iron and steel production. Success requires research, development and cooperation.”
Since 2016, Hybrit has been working to develop the world’s first fossil-free steel through unique technology. The way there passes through their pilot direct reduction plant in Luleå, Sweden, which was completed in 2020, the first of its kind.
In the plant, the experimental development of a process to reduce iron ore using fossil-free hydrogen, which is split from water in electrolysis, is proceeding.
Adjoining the pilot plant, an underground hydrogen storage facility has been built, which will be operational from 2022 to 2024. At LKAB Malmberget, unique long-term trials of pellet production with non-fossil fuels have been conducted in order to achieve the fossil-free production of iron ore pellets.
The trials have been successful, and in autumn 2020 the world’s first fossil-free pellets were produced.
“Alongside the development of the pilot direct reduction pilot, we are preparing the next step, a demonstration plant that we are planning to commission to make fossil free steel available to the market in 2026. Here, a fossil-free value chain from iron ore pellets to steel will be demonstrated for the first time on a large scale.
“Using hydrogen instead of carbon during the reduction of iron ore to iron is the most sustainable and technically promising option for the iron and steel industry.
“A switch to hydrogen would mean major changes in the energy system, iron ore refining and steel production. Hybrit is developing the technology and the value chain for hydrogen-based iron and steel production for a fossil-free future.”
In early 2017, a four-year research program was launched, which took the initial steps towards achieving the long-term goal of producing fossil-free steel.
The development work has been conducted with the support of the Swedish Energy Agency.
These results have been important when Hybrit took further steps towards development in the pilot and demonstration scale, and were summarized during 2021. The program included both practical laboratory-scale trials and analyses in several different fields of research.
The aim of Hybrit’s research is to investigate and evaluate possible ways to make the value chain for energy-iron-steel fossil-free and, thus, provide a foundation for future industrial strategies. This will be a transition in which the industry will have to work together with policy makers, consumers and other stakeholders.
This gives Sweden a unique position, and responsibility, to take the lead in the transition to fossil-free iron and steel production.
Stockholm Royal Seaport is one of Europe’s largest urban development projects, where former industrial land is being transformed into a city district on land owned by the City of Stockholm.
Royal Stockholm Seaport a testbed for fossil-free vision
ON the edge of Stockholm’s urban park, the new ‘eco-quarter’ of Norra Djurgårdsstaden, Stockholm Royal Seaport, is using an old gasworks to build thousands of eco-friendly homes complete with biogas produced from food waste, as well as providing electric car chargers and planning a new tram line. But the real innovation is behind the walls and under the ground.
Swedes use three times as much energy as the global average to combat the cold climate and power their high-tech society, but living in cities is potentially more energy-efficient too. Stockholm Royal Seaport is a test bed for a globally innovative smart energy grid in partnership with energy companies, universities and homebuilders.
Stockholm Royal Seaport is one of Europe’s largest urban development projects, where former industrial land is being transformed into a city district on land owned by the City of Stockholm.
In Stockholm Royal Seaport, former industrial land is being transformed into a green and vibrant part of Stockholm with holistic solutions that contribute to resource efficiency and reduced climate impact. New processes and solutions are tested and developed for a more sustainable future.
To achieve the ambitious sustainability goals for Stockholm Royal Seaport, new knowledge, systems and processes are required. About 40 research, development and innovation projects have been completed. 11 are ongoing within construction and mass consolidation, water & wastewater, digitisation, electrification and more.
These include a myriad of projects both completed and ongoing, such as the Roadmap to a fossil fuel-free city district;
Stockholm Royal Seaport was a partner of the Climate Positive Development Program (CPDP), a C40 Cities initiative, which brings together cities that are developing methods to reduce the climate impact of cities. Stockholm Royal Seaport’s sustainability roadmap is based on the CPDP framework. The plan sets out how Stockholm Royal Seaport can be fossil fuel-free by 2030. The framework comprises several steps, the first of which is to develop a roadmap with strategies to become a climate-positive district during its operation.
The purpose of the project was to develop strategies to ensure that Stockholm Royal Seaport will be fossil fuel-free by 2030 and to contribute to developing and disseminating methods and experiences internationally for how to work towards, monitor, and calculate climate impacts in a city district.
Stockholm Royal Seaport developed a roadmap that was approved in 2017, thereby making it a full project partner. The CPDP was terminated in 2019.
The roadmap shows that with the requirements that Stockholm Royal Seaport sets in the project, climate emissions can be reduced by about 60 per cent compared to Hammarby Sjöstad, another area of Stockholm. Calculations include energy, transport, and waste.
The process of developing the roadmap has contributed to an in-depth understanding of the effects that different requirements contribute to and has improved collaboration between City of Stockholm administrations and companies.
Beyond industrial, the Stockholm Royal Seaport is also one of the largest urban development areas in northen Europe with 12,000 new homes and 35,000 workplaces. Planning work started in the early 2000s.
The area runs along the waterline of the Baltic Sea, lies next door to the Royal National City Park and is just ten minutes away from central Stockholm by bicycle.
The industrial site around the gasworks are has been transformed into an urban district that interacts with port operations and the existing residential areas.
The Stockholm Royal Seaport area (Norra Djurgårdsstaden) features the characteristics and density of an inner-city neighbourhood, with a broad mix of homes, amenities and businesses, as well as strategic infrastructure and international port traffic.
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