Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Urban Areas: The Case of Oslo

Abstract

In the Nordic region, about 85% of the population already lives in urban settlements. Meeting the future energy demand in cities and urban areas in a sustainable way is an important challenge for the future. Sustainability has been integrated in the planning of many Nordic cities, and the Nordic capitals have the potential to lead the low-carbon transition by example. Oslo is a small city in a global context, but it wants to show how cities can take the responsibility for the development of sustainable energy systems with innovative ideas and solutions for the future. A technology-rich optimization model has been developed to analyze how various energy and climate policies and measures can transform the city of Oslo into a low-carbon city. One of the key findings from these scenarios is that the majority of the emissions from the stationary sector can be removed at a low abatement cost, and most of these actions are relatively easy to implement. The phase-out of fossil-fuels in buildings occurs in all climate mitigation scenarios explored. The transport sector completes its full transition to non-fossil fuels only when fossil fuels are banned by specific policies. In all cases, support to fuel and technology innovation appears essential to the low-carbon transition of Oslo.