Stockholm

Stockholm is at the forefront of digital energy solutions through SP1 – Digital Infrastructure & ICT Tools, leveraging advanced technologies in Hammarby Sjöstad, one of the city’s largest urban development projects. Spearheaded by ElectriCITY Innovation, the district is on track to become climate-neutral by 2030, utilizing smart energy management systems, data standardization, and digital tools to optimize urban energy use.

Key Developments in Stockholm’s SP1 Solutions

• Microgrid Platform for Energy Optimization – A centralized data system standardizing energy, heat pump, and building performance information across multiple buildings to enhance efficiency and reduce energy waste.
• EV Charging Optimization – A smart charging app allows staggered EV charging in parking garages, ensuring balanced energy loads while maximizing charging capacity.
• Integrated Digital Solutions – Real-time data integration improves building energy performance, district-wide energy planning, and forecasting capabilities.

Next Steps:

• Expanding Digital Infrastructure – Strengthening connectivity and data-sharing mechanisms to scale smart energy solutions.
• Refining Data Integration – Enhancing real-time monitoring and analytics to further optimize energy consumption across the district.
• Scaling Smart Energy Applications – Applying lessons learned to replicate digital energy management solutions in other urban areas.

Lessons Learned & Collaboration Opportunities

Stockholm’s Hammarby Sjöstad serves as a living lab for sustainable urban innovation, demonstrating how data-driven energy solutions can contribute to climate and energy transition goals. Through ElectriCITY’s collaborative approach, the city is pioneering replicable models for smart energy management that can be adapted across Europe.

Read more about Hammarby Sjöstad Site Visit

Stockholm is advancing its sustainable mobility agenda through a combination of citywide electrification initiatives and area-based demonstrations. The strategy focuses on reducing emissions from transport while improving accessibility, infrastructure quality, and the urban environment. Central to this effort are two interlinked actions: the Electrification Pact and the STOLT demonstrator platform.

Key Developments in Stockholm’s SP4 Solutions

Electrification Pact – Scaling charging infrastructure and public-private collaboration

Stockholm has rapidly increased its charging capacity, now offering approximately 6,700 public charging points, including 1,700 located on city streets. The city has also expanded its collaborative platform, the Electrification Pact, a public-private network that currently includes nearly 100 members from the energy, automotive, and logistics sectors.

In 2024, the Pact:
• Installed approximately 800 new street-level charging points
• Launched over 50 public ultra-fast chargers, including infrastructure for electric taxis in the planned Class 3 Environmental Zone
• Welcomed 17 new members and initiated two focus groups to drive sector-specific actions
• Conducted large-scale and small-group network meetings and public campaigns

A renewed direction was announced at Stockholm City Hall in early 2025, with leadership from the Acting Mayor of Finance and Mayor of Traffic, alongside CEOs from Scania, Ellevio, and Volkswagen. The updated focus includes:
• Developing appropriate charging infrastructure and grid capacity
• Implementing regulation to support accelerated transition
• Promoting zero-emission vehicle deployment and services

Ellevio, a key stakeholder, has committed over SEK 10 billion to date and plans to invest an additional SEK 19 billion in Stockholm’s electricity grid by 2030. The company also aims to fully electrify its own and subcontractors’ vehicles and work machinery.

STOLT (Stockholm Local Transitions) – System demonstrator for emission-free inner city

STOLT functions as both a demonstration and transition platform to support the goal of a fossil-free inner city by 2030. It builds on the introduction of a Class 3 Environmental Zone in the Old Town to pilot strategies that reduce car travel, electrify urban transport, and enhance the urban environment.

The project consists of coordinated demonstrations that target:

1. Reduction in car traffic
2. Electrification of fleets and services
3. Improvement of public space quality

Through STOLT, Stockholm is also developing internal capabilities in system innovation, collaborative governance, digital transformation, and adaptive learning.

Lessons Learned

• Integrated Action Platforms Foster Acceleration: Stockholm’s networked approach through the Electrification Pact shows how collaboration across sectors supports rapid infrastructure rollout and shared commitments.
• Area-Based Demonstration Supports System Innovation: STOLT’s targeted implementation demonstrates how emissions reduction, urban livability, and capacity-building can be advanced together.
• Grid Investments Are Critical Enablers: Large-scale electrification requires smart grid development to accommodate increased demand and ensure long-term system resilience.
• Stockholm’s SP4 strategy combines large-scale infrastructure deployment with localised innovation, offering a replicable framework for urban mobility decarbonisation aligned with the city’s climate neutrality goals.

Stockholm is committed to becoming climate-positive by 2030 and fossil-fuel-free by 2040, surpassing Sweden's national target of climate neutrality by 2045. To accelerate this transition, the city is pioneering innovative approaches that place citizen engagement and behavioural change at the core of climate action.

1. Scale Stockholm: Climate & Health Transition Arenas

As part of the EU NetZeroCities Pilot Cities Programme, Stockholm launched Scale Stockholm, an initiative focused on empowering residents, associations, and local businesses to take an active role in the climate transition. The programme is anchored in four areas across the city:

• Inner City
• Stockholm Royal Seaport
• Järva
• Stockholm Green Innovation District (Årsta–Sickla)

These areas differ in population and development context, offering ideal conditions to test and adapt interventions.

At the heart of the initiative are Local Transition Arenas, participatory spaces co-created with residents, local organisations, city-owned companies, and district administrations. These arenas serve as testbeds for solutions that can later be scaled across the city.

In collaboration with Digidem Lab, a democracy lab supporting inclusive citizen dialogue, Stockholm has hosted workshops with over 100 participants from civil society and the business community. Together, they co-designed pilot projects focused on:

• Urban farming and local cultivation
• Energy efficiency in housing, schools, and businesses
• Circular economy measures to reduce plastic and waste
• Active mobility and biking infrastructure
• Temporary car-free zones and increased urban greenery
• Sustainable food systems and climate-smart consumption
• Data-informed planning for accessible and socially sustainable neighbourhoods

The next step is to test and further develop these projects, with successful ones scaled to additional parts of the city starting in 2026.

2. Strategic Integration: The National Upscaling Guide

To address a long-standing bottleneck on how to scale successful pilots, Stockholm co-developed a National Upscaling Guide. This tool embeds scale-thinking into project design from the outset and is currently being applied in programmes like Focus Skärholmen, with plans to expand into more urban districts.

Key features include:

• Guiding questions that bridge pilot innovation with the realities of public service delivery
• A dedicated section on citizen participation and behavioural change
• A framework to align project design with funding, governance, and institutional logic
• Support for cross-departmental alignment between innovation teams and city operations

3. Lessons Learned

• Design for Scale from the Start: Upscaling must be built into the pilot’s DNA.
• Bridge Administrative Cultures: Long-term success requires connecting innovation ecosystems with core city operations.
• Citizens as Catalysts: Public participation is vital for legitimacy and lasting impact.
• National Collaboration Matters: Working with academic and institutional partners strengthens scalability and replication.

Through Scale Stockholm and the Upscaling Guide, the city is developing a replicable model for embedding climate and health priorities into local governance and citizen co-creation. As one of the ASCEND cities, Stockholm’s experience offers valuable insights into how citizen-centric solutions can become the backbone of Positive Clean Energy Districts across Europe.

Hammarby Sjöstad, a large urban development in southeast Stockholm, transformed a former industrial site into a thriving district for 25,000 residents and over 10,000 workplaces, with ambitious environmental goals. ElectriCITY Innovation, established in 2015 is central to continuing to guide the established district toward climate neutrality by 2030, operating multiple testbeds in energy, transportation, the circular economy, and digital solutions. The district’s eco-governance model, which combines integrated resource management, collaborative decision-making, and resident involvement, shows how cities can balance sustainability with livability. An economic association unites housing cooperatives and ElectriCITY experts, enabling access to public funding and joint procurement processes that deliver both environmental and social benefits.

Key Developments

• ElectriCITY’s work in Hammarby Sjöstad, turning the area into a living laboratory for innovative net-zero solutions.
• Strong focus on community engagement through face-to-face meetings, workshops, and partnerships with local housing associations and associations like Sjöstadsföreningen.
• Initiatives such as eco-friendly heating, clothes swaps, local food markets, and study circles that make sustainability part of daily life.
• The development of Hammarby Sjöstad 2.0, uniting residents, businesses, academia, and policymakers in a bottom-up governance process.

Challenges and Risks

• Initial resistance from stakeholders skeptical of large-scale environmental change.
• Changing everyday habits around recycling, re-use, and sustainable consumption.
• Maintaining long-term collaboration between diverse actors, including residents, businesses, academia, and government.
• Risk that technical innovations may fail without social sustainability.

Next Steps

• Expand ElectriCITY’s outreach by offering a digital platform and educational support for communities seeking to replicate the ElectriCITY model.
• Support local initiatives in energy efficiency, joint procurement, and electric mobility infrastructure.
• Strengthen sustainable income streams to maintain community-led projects.
• Continue scaling Hammarby Sjöstad 2.0 as a model for other districts.

Lessons Learned

• Trust, transparency, and direct engagement are essential to gain resident support.
• Making sustainability social and enjoyable through events like Energymeetings, Studycircles on sustainability, Sjöstadsdagen etc. encourages long-term behavioral change.
• Social sustainability, including inclusion, quality of life, and community well-being, is as important as technical innovation.
• A shared vision and bottom-up governance help keep all stakeholders committed to long-term net-zero goals.

Through ElectriCITY’s efforts, Hammarby Sjöstad demonstrates how community-driven engagement and social sustainability can underpin ambitious net-zero objectives. Success relies not just on advanced technology but also on collaboration with residents and local organizations. The project offers valuable lessons in social inclusion, grassroots leadership, and bottom-up governance for other cities pursuing carbon neutrality.

In Stockholm, ElectriCITY is advancing how citizens can lead the way toward a more sustainable urban future. As a citizen-driven accelerator for sustainable urban development, ElectriCITY brings together housing associations, businesses, and local organizations to co-create energy solutions that balance efficiency with inclusion. Through joint procurement, energy meetings, and shared learning, ElectriCITY has built Stockholm’s first energy community – a model that strengthens local ownership and drives innovation. This approach not only reduces emissions but also reinforces the city’s social fabric, showing how citizen engagement can support real systemic change.