Stockholm becomes world’s fifth largest buyer of permanent carbon removals

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🗞️ Driving the news: Stockholm has become the world’s fifth largest buyer of permanent carbon removals, committing to purchase 50,000 tonnes per year for 15 years from Stockholm Exergi
• The procurement is part of the city’s strategy to become territorially climate positive by 2030 and fully fossil fuel-free by 2040, targeting hard-to-abate municipal emissions from sectors such as construction materials and wastewater treatment

🔭 The context: Long-term municipal procurement of carbon removals provides stability for the emerging market, reducing investment risk for developers and signaling credible demand
• Stockholm’s approach integrates deep emissions reductions with targeted removals, creating a model for other cities to address residual emissions that cannot be fully eliminated
• The city is also leveraging this strategy to influence local suppliers and public infrastructure

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: By addressing difficult-to-decarbonize emissions locally and purchasing verified permanent removals, Stockholm is reducing its net greenhouse gas footprint while supporting the growth of a high-integrity carbon removal industry
• This helps limit urban contributions to climate change, supports clean infrastructure development, and accelerates the deployment of scalable removal technologies

⏭️ What’s next: Stockholm’s model could inspire other climate-ambitious cities in Europe and globally to adopt long-term carbon removal procurement, creating broader market signals for permanent, verifiable removal credits
• Investors and corporate buyers may increasingly treat removals as a standard climate mitigation tool alongside emissions reductions

💬 One quote: “The City of Stockholm aims to become territorially climate positive by 2030 and completely fossil fuel-free by 2040… this is an important signal at a time when the green transition must accelerate.” — Karin Wanngård, Mayor of Finance

📈 One stat: The 15-year Stockholm Exergi agreement represents a commitment of 750,000 tonnes of permanent carbon removals in total

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