For Espoo, carbon neutrality means that the city will only produce as much greenhouse gas emissions as it can absorb from the atmosphere into carbon sinks. The aim is to reduce annual emissions by 80 percent from the 1990 level and absorb the remaining 20 percent in the city’s own carbon sinks. Carbon neutrality is part of the Espoo Story.
The actions recorded in the Climate Watch service are based on the City of Espoo’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) (the file exist only in Finnish). The SECAP includes 80 fairly roughly described actions to mitigate climate change and adapt to it. However, 111 actions have been recorded in Climate Watch, because the SECAP actions have been broken down into smaller parts for it to make it easier to monitor progress and completion.
The SECAP is a key implementation tool for the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, which was signed by the Mayor of Espoo. The mayors who signed the climate covenant undertake to support the European Union’s 40 percent emission reductions by 2030. That said, Espoo’s goal is more ambitious: Espoo aims to reach carbon neutrality set for 2030.
