The City of Stockholm has formally decided to purchase permanent carbon removal credits from energy company Stockholm Exergi equivalent to 50,000 tonnes per year over a fifteen-year period. The agreement secures the Swedish capital’s position as the world’s fifth-largest buyer of permanent carbon removals.
The transaction, executed via the municipal group, is a core component of Stockholm’s updated Environmental Programme and Climate Action Plan. The city aims to become territorially climate-positive by 2030 and entirely fossil-fuel-free by 2040. To achieve these targets, territorial emissions within the city boundaries must decrease sharply, with carbon sequestration actively exceeding remaining emissions.
The long-term investment is designed to complement existing municipal decarbonisation initiatives rather than replace them. Specifically, the carbon removal credits will be used to counterbalance residual, hard-to-abate emissions within the municipal corporate group that are currently too costly or technically difficult to eliminate, such as those originating from construction materials and municipal wastewater treatment processes.
Karin Wanngård, Mayor of Finance for the City of Stockholm, emphasized the international precedent set by the deal, stating: “The City of Stockholm aims to become territorially climate positive by 2030 and completely fossil fuel-free by 2040. Through this purchase, Stockholm is taking a global leadership position among climate-ambitious cities and becomes the world’s fifth largest buyer of permanent carbon removals. This is an important signal at a time when the green transition must accelerate to address the climate crisis.”
Anders Egelrud, Chief Executive Officer of Stockholm Exergi, welcomed the city’s market-building role, adding: “The City of Stockholm has long been at the forefront of the climate transition. They are once again showing leadership in how municipalities, companies and other actors should act by combining deep emissions reductions with purchases of permanent carbon removals. At the same time, they are helping to build a new industry and create a market for carbon removals.”
