Sök efter innehåll på webbplatsen. När du börjar skriva i sökfältet kommer sökförslag att presenteras under fältet. Använd piltangenterna för att navigera mellan sökförslagen och enter för att välja något av dem.
Uppsala aims to be climate-neutral by 2030, meaning our greenhouse gas emissions will no longer contribute to global warming.
Over the past two years, Uppsala Municipality has tested and implemented innovative methods to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the EU project Scale Up, in collaboration with Uppsala Vatten och Avfall, Uppsalahem, and STUNS.
The result of the project has been summarized in a film. The film has English subtitles.
To reduce Uppsala’s climate impact, the Scale Up project focused on:
Click each heading to read more about the project’s results and lessons learned.
In Ulleråker, approximately 11,000 square meters of buildings have been carefully dismantled so that the materials can be reused in other projects.
The buildings were deconstructed with the vision of enabling 100% reuse of usable materials, including everything from frames and load-bearing structures to details like skirting boards, wall sockets, light fixtures, radiators, and interior walls.
The materials dismantled in Ulleråker are being stored for later reuse and sale, both within the municipality and to external construction actors in Uppsala. One example is the municipal company Uppsalahem, which is reusing materials from Ulleråker in a new building project in Kåbo.
With consulting support from Ramboll, Uppsala Municipality has worked to assess material value and challenge both industry norms and traditional assumptions about construction materials. This has led to new, more efficient methods that may reduce long-term costs. It has also deepened understanding of the circular economy, cost drivers, risks, and time- or cost-intensive steps.
The publication From House to House summarizes the lessons learned from the dismantling project and includes insights on:
The municipal company Uppsalahem has been testing various reuse methods during its large renovation project in Gottsunda. Several of these tests have now been scaled up and integrated into regular operations.
Examples from the Gottsunda renovation:
Uppsala Municipality has developed a GIS-based map tool to compare the allotted carbon budget of new building projects with their actual carbon footprint. The tool, called Visualization of Carbon Budgets in Urban Development Projects, gives an overview of the climate impact of specific properties and allows for comparisons between projects.
This tool supports carbon planning and monitoring and is an important step towards reaching Uppsala’s climate goals. Built on Uppsala’s GIS platform, the tool emphasizes automation, flexibility, and data quality.
It shows building climate performance in line with Uppsala Climate Protocol methodology, as outlined in the municipal climate framework for land allocation. The tool also compares municipal goals and average target values needed to reach climate targets.
See the tool to track carbon budgets in urban developement projects.
Read Uppsala’s climate framework.
Uppsala is continuously evolving how it governs environmental and climate efforts — a complex and ever-changing field.
By 2026, Uppsala’s first climate budget will be included in the main strategic document Goals and Budget, making Uppsala one of the first municipalities globally to fully integrate climate action into the yearly budget process.
This approach will provide significantly greater weight to the climate transition in political decision-making, directly linking the transition to the municipality’s financial management.
The first climate budget will be published when the City Council adopts Goals and Budget 2026 in November 2025.
During the purification of drinking water in Uppsala, lime pellets are created—small spheres with a sand core and lime shell. While these have sometimes been used to reduce acidification in lakes and watercourses, they have mainly ended up in landfill, despite their potential.
Through Scale Up, the municipal company Uppsala Vatten and SLU studied how lime pellets could instead be used in agriculture—for soil improvement, pH adjustment, and returning lime to the land.
Reclassifying lime pellets from waste to by-product creates new value:
Rather than being discarded, lime pellets can now serve useful purposes—locally, nationally, and in the long term.
The full report will be published on Uppsala Vatten’s website before midsummer.
Uppsala’s ongoing urban development in the southeastern districts is exploring a local circular hub — a multihub — with multiple community functions aimed at promoting climate-positive, resource-efficient neighborhoods.
Possible multihub features include:
Uppsala Vatten gathered knowledge and ideas for how multihubs can promote circular flows and waste prevention.
As part of the project, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute produced reports on:
Additionally, Uppsala Vatten explored residents’ preferences for multihub services. With support from Ignite and the municipal innovation unit, they partnered with Hives Co to launch a digital message board, collecting around 50 ideas in areas like waste prevention, community building, and sustainable transport.
These insights are now being used to further develop the multihub concept in future neighborhoods.
Reports and summaries will be published here at the end of May.
As a neutral innovation hub, STUNS (The Foundation for Collaboration between the Universities in Uppsala, Industry, and Society) played a central role in the Scale Up project, promoting collaboration and enabling solutions that drive sustainable societal development.
STUNS has connected stakeholders—such as the municipality and municipal companies—with students, researchers, startups, and established firms. This has helped create platforms where:
The project explored reuse opportunities, sustainable mobility solutions, and youth engagement in urban planning. Study visits, workshops, and student-led projects were key tools. A central theme in STUNS’ work is collaboration—identifying needs, creating synergies, and driving progress on complex challenges.
By bridging academia, industry, and the public sector, STUNS has helped accelerate Uppsala’s sustainability transition and create space for new ideas to grow.
Want to learn more or access the full reports?
Contact Uppsala Municipality’s contact center for assistance.
Uppsala was selected as one of 52 pilot cities in Europe from 2023–2025, as part of the EU-funded NetZeroCities project. NetZeroCities supports over 150 cities and 33 organizations in accelerating climate transitions in line with the EU’s mission for climate-neutral and smart cities.
Uppsala received financial support, expert advice, and best-practice sharing to help meet its climate goals.
To reduce emissions, Uppsala works closely with actors at:
Read more about Uppsala’s project in Swedish.
The project has received funding through NetZeroCities from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036519.
