Climate budget 2024: Enhanced Efforts to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Oslo aims to reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 95 % by 2030 compared to 2009-levels. To steer towards this goal, the city council is working to meet annual emission limits presented in the climate budget. From 2009 to 2021, direct emissions have been reduced by 30 %. With the measures adopted in this climate budget, Oslo can achieve a reduction of about 63 % by 2030 compared to 2009. At the same time, there is potential to reduce emissions in Oslo by up to 79 % in 2030 if new, identified measures are adopted and implemented. The climate budget shows that large emission reductions are possible, but for Oslo to reach its climate goal, there is a need both to strengthen existing measures and to identify and implement new ones.

The City of Oslo uses the climate budget as a governance tool to systematize and target climate efforts. The climate budget is an integral part of the financial budget. Through the climate budget, climate efforts are placed on the agenda in all budget discussions and are included in the overarching budget documents. The responsibility for implementing measures and instruments is distributed among the municipal enterprises and involves reporting requirements on par with the rest of the financial reporting. The climate budget displays the measures and instruments being implemented to cut emissions within Oslo’s borders (direct emissions). For the first time, the climate budget also includes emissions that occur outside of Oslo’s borders, which are a consequence of the consumption of goods and services in Oslo (indirect emissions). The climate budget also describes key initiatives to achieve the goals in the Climate Strategy (case 109/20). The climate budget is presented for the entire financial plan period 2024-2027.

Road traffic, waste incineration, and the use of diesel at building and construction sites accounted for nearly 90 % of the total greenhouse gas emissions within Oslo’s borders in 2021. At the same time, Oslo has measures with the greatest emission reductions in the coming years in these sectors. Road traffic alone accounts for more than half of the emissions, and the city council will take an even more systematic approach to reduce emissions from transport.

The Climate Strategy for Oslo towards 2030 has five main goals. The city council has several initiatives that contribute to achieving these goals. At the same time, national policies have obstacles for Oslo to achieve its climate goal. Therefore, the city council will intensify efforts to secure local autonomy to implement a more ambitious climate policy, such as granting municipalities the authority to demand Zero-emission construction and building sites, introduce a zero-emission zone for road traffic, require payment for parking on private property, etc.

The consumption of the municipality, the business community, and the citizens result in significant emissions outside the municipality. These are called indirect emissions. Oslo municipality has decided that Oslo’s indirect greenhouse gas emissions should be significantly lower in 2030 compared to 2020. To strengthen efforts to achieve this goal, measures to reduce indirect emissions are included in this climate budget for the first time.

The Climate Budget 2024 emphasizes the implementation and strengthening of existing measures for the reduction of direct greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to presenting an overview of measures that contribute to reducing indirect emissions.

Some of the key initiatives in the Climate Budget 2024 include:

• Transition to zero-emission transport
• Electrification of construction sites
• Ambitious climate provisions in the land-use part of the municipal master plan
• Energy initiatives that will provide enough power and effect for the transition to a zero-emission city
• Reducing the municipality’s indirect emissions

All personal cars and vans in Oslo are to run on electricity or hydrogen by 2030, and all heavy transport must be zero-emission or use sustainable renewable fuels. From November 2024, all taxis operating within the borders of Oslo municipality must be zero-emission vehicles, according to the regulation on environmental requirements for taxi transport in Oslo.

Emissions from heavy transport are estimated to increase towards 2030 unless new policies ensure faster electrification. In 2024, establishing charging stations for trucks will be important, and the city council will therefore ensure a massive effort on publicly available fast chargers for heavy vehicles. The Climate and Energy Fund has granted approval for 55 fast charging points which, if realized, could provide a much better availability for public charging for heavy transport during 2024. The city council proposes to strengthen the development of fast charging for electric heavy transport and taxis. It is proposed to allocate 10 million in 2024 and 10 million in 2025. Furthermore, through the Oslo Package 3 agreement (an overall plan for the development and funding of roads and public transport in Oslo and Akershus county), the city council has ensured that the exemption in the toll ring for trucks on electricity, hydrogen, and biogas lasts until 2027. Through the Oslo Package 3 negotiations in 2024, the city council will work for an agreement that helps fulfill the municipality’s traffic and climate goals while providing funds for the investment and operation of public transportation. The competitive conditions between electric vehicles and fossil-fueled vehicles should be maintained or increased (to the disadvantage of fossil-fuel vehicles). The city council is also working for the government to allow zero-emission commercial transport (heavy and light vehicles) access to the public transport lanes if electric personal vehicles lose access to these lanes.

The city council continues to invest in public transportation. For the school year 2023/2024, the price for a 30-day ticket for children and young people has been reduced to NOK 299. The purpose is, among other things, to change travel habits for children and young people from car/parental driving to the use of public transport and to reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. In the action program 2023–2027 for the urban growth cooperation and Oslo Package 3, Oslo’s share will go to pedestrian, bicycle, and public transport measures. In 2024, the funds will go to, among other things, the operation of public transportation and upgrading of tram depots, a new signal and safety system for the subway, and upgrading and capacity increase at Majorstuen station. NOK 1.5 billion is allocated to the Fornebu Line, and further about NOK 1 billion for upgrades on the tram and subway. Priority measures in 2024 include the upgrade of the Ekeberg Line between Konows gate and Ekebergparken, upgrading of Tøyen subway station, and maintenance on both the tram and subway networks.

Since 2019, Oslo Municipality has required that all construction and building operations on behalf of the municipality shall be fossil-free, and zero-emission solutions are rewarded. New assessments show that the requirement can have a greater effect than previously estimated. From 2020, Oslo has also required fossil-free construction sites for private and state actors through new regulatory plans. The legal basis for the requirement is contested. The city council will work for the national government to quickly send a clear legal basis for zero-emission construction sites out for consultation.

In June 2023, the city council presented a proposal for a revised land-use part of the municipal master plan, which is on external consultation in the fall of 2023. The proposal is expected to lead to significant emission reductions, which are important for achieving the municipality’s climate goals. The plan proposal includes requirements for greenhouse gas calculations in construction projects, zero-emission construction sites, and local, environmentally friendly, and circular handling of materials, material selection, and reuse. Furthermore, the proposal contains emission requirements for materials, requirements for local renewable energy production, and common energy solutions, as well as requirements facilitating electric commercial transport. The plan also proposes requirements for climate adaptation and carbon storage, including further strengthening of nature and green areas.

Oslo Municipality is making significant efforts in energy efficiency both in its own operations and in the city, through, among other things, subsidy schemes for solar panels. At the same time, it is crucial to ensure an energy system that is equipped for the electrification needed towards 2030, with enough power and impact. In the revised budget for 2023, 2 million NOK was allocated to the project «Energy Supply in the Zero-emission City,» which will implement measures to ensure that Oslo has a suitable and flexible energy system by 2030. The project lasts until 2025 and is operated by the Climate Agency.

The direct greenhouse gas emissions (emissions inside Oslo’s geographical area) are covered by international climate commitments like the Paris Agreement and requirements for national emission inventories. The Norwegian Environment Agency publishes municipal greenhouse gas accounts for the direct emissions. A country or municipality has the most measures to influence direct emissions. Hence, direct emissions have been prioritized in Oslo’s climate budget. Oslo’s indirect emissions are challenging to calculate and will also be another municipality’s or country’s direct emissions. However, the indirect emissions from Oslo are significantly larger than the direct ones, and consumption contributes to significant use of natural resources. Therefore, it is important to work to reduce the emissions we contribute to outside Oslo’s borders. To strengthen the effort, measures to reduce indirect emissions are included in this climate budget for the first time, with associated reporting requirements. By including indirect emissions in the climate budget, the work will be more systematized, and direct and indirect emissions can be seen more in context. Several new measures that the municipality will work with to further reduce indirect emissions have been identified, and processes have been initiated to explore and develop these measures.