Aarhus Municipality has abandoned its goal of full climate neutrality in 2030, replacing it with a target of at least an 85 percent emissions reduction and an ambition of 90 percent.
The parties behind the municipality’s climate agreement met earlier on Wednesday, August 12, and agreed to lower the target, DR reports. The goal of climate neutrality in 2030 had been in place since 2008.
The change was first reported by TV2 Østjylland, which described the new line in the same terms: a reduction of at least 85 percent, with an ambition of 90 percent. According to Venstre’s political leader in the city council, Christian Budde, a long and complicated negotiation process preceded the decision.
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Budde said some of the assumptions behind the 2030 neutrality goal turned out not to be achievable. He pointed to a large carbon capture project at Lisbjerg that could not be realized. He added that Aarhus remains the greenest municipality in the country, and that the city should move in a greener direction while still being able to live and grow.
The Lisbjerg project
Kredsløb Energipark Lisbjerg is a waste-to-energy plant that produces electricity and district heating by burning waste. A carbon capture facility there would have captured 435,000 tons of CO2 per year, and formed a substantial part of the path toward climate neutrality, per DR. The city council dropped the project in December.
In a background piece on the original climate agreement, DOI.dk described the Lisbjerg capture plant as central to the plan, with a projected removal of about 405,000 tons of CO2. It became one of the key assumptions that failed.
The decision to halt the capture project was unanimous in the city council. At the time, Aarhus Mayor Anders Winnerskjold said he believed it would be very difficult to reach the 2030 target, according to DR.
SF is one of the parties in the climate agreement. Liv Gro Jensen said the party would have preferred to stay at 100 percent, but accepted the 90 percent ambition because there is value in putting action behind the goal. She said SF is glad the ambitions in Aarhus remain high.
The municipality’s own draft climate plan, published on the city’s consultation portal, still describes the 2008 goal of making Aarhus CO2e-neutral in 2030 as the framework for its climate policy. The same draft plan sets a separate target of a 50 percent reduction in consumption-based emissions by 2035.
