Gothenburg
Gothenburg is Sweden’s second largest city with approximately 590,000 inhabitants. As the biggest port in the Nordic Region, Gothenburg is by tradition a centre for trade, transport and industry but also for tourism and major international events. In light of such industrial activity, one of the city's key ambitions has been to become more sustainable by reducing 90% of emissions from heavy goods transport by 2030.
In this regard, Gothenburg has not been inactive: for the last seven years, the city has made lowering waste truck emissions a priority. Through a collaboration with Volvo, the city asked the manufacturer's trucks to develop a tightly specified electric waste collection truck that met the requirements of the routes, topography, speed and load capacity needed to operate in the city. The collaboration model was fruitful also for spurring Gothenburg's use of electrified transport: through the ElectriCity green city project, a roll-out of Volvo electrified buses was implemented within the city, in association also with ABB, who supplied the city’s charging stations, among others.

Credit: Emmy Jonsson
Gothenburg's ambitions did not stop there: in 2021, the Swedish port city began its plans to establish a zero-emission urban area covering a large area in the centre and surrounding districts of the city, under the title 'Gothenburg Green City Zone', where fully climate-neutral and zero-emissions transportation systems will be developed and tested. The aim of this zone, unlike many other zero-emissions zones, is not to entirely prohibit combustion engine vehicles from entering, but rather to establish extensive testing and demonstration sites, helping to spur technological innovation for sustainable mobility solutions. This initiative was brought forth from another collaboration with Volvo ,as well as RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, showing the city's proactiveness in fostering multi-actor collaborations.
Indeed, this has been evident through their involvement in POLIS: as the hosts of our Annual Conference 2021, the city played a central role in bringing together over 550 participants to discuss and exchange knowledge on the common challenges facing our urban environments and transport systems, with a focus on innovation, sustainability and co-creation. They have also been actively involved in a number of our projects, such as SPROUT and SCALE.
You can find out more on their website, or follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Modal Split
- Related News
- Related Events
- Related Documents
MOVE21 successfully wraps-up with a ground-breaking final event
Brussels Bubble Band meet to discuss implementation of key EU policies
Let’s talk about parcel lockers: Location, size, and operation
MOVE21 launches White Paper on Public-Private Collaboration in Urban Mobility and Logistics
Diversity is high on the EU agenda for 2025!
Twenty new cities awarded European Commission Mission label
POLIS members feature in IMD Smart City Index
POLIS publishes new Cities in motion magazine at #POLIS23!
SMALL launches first Insights paper on inclusive shared mobility
ERTRAC celebrated its 20th anniversary with a bang!
UVARs & tech: Experts lead conversation on implementation and enforcement
POLIS elevates the voices of cities at Autonomy Paris
Women shifting gear! Meet the women behind the sustainable mobility transition
POLIS unveils its brand-new magazine ‘Cities in motion’!

SPROUT contributes to CIVITAS ELEVATE e-course on data-driven approaches to SUMPs

MOVE21 launches Scan-Med Observatory at the EU Week of Regions and Cities

Introducing SCALE, a new HEU project on EVs and smart charging

EU Cities Mission selects 28 POLIS members among its cities

POLIS members among finalists for the European Capitals of Inclusion and Diversity Award!

POLIS calls for tighter van CO2 limits in order to drive electrification

35 POLIS members featured in the Applicants’ list for the Cities Mission

Revealing a star-studded line-up for Get Our Cities Moving

GeoSence project survey: Make your voice heard

No one left behind: Cities and regions commit to work together for a just mobility transition

“Public Transport Lab” webinar series kicks off with a bang

Registration is open for the POLIS Conference 2021

June working group meetings: Digitisation, SMCs… and more!

New projects in European cities will trial clean air solutions for freight

Traffic Efficiency working group examines ITS Directive

SURF: Aarhus, Ravenna and Karditsa selected to run ‘instant projects’ on sustainable urban freight

SURF (Sustainable URban Freight) Call for Instant Projects is Open until 14 May

Gothenburg’s automated mobility and citizen engagement

SURF (Sustainable URban Freight) project kicks off

Safety & Security Working Group meets to discuss capacity building for road safety

POLIS Annual Conference call for speakers now open

Impacts of transport-related policy measures on air quality

Cities ask for at least half of new vans to be zero-emission in 2030

POLIS joins coalition on zero-emission urban fleets

Gothenburg establishes pioneering ‘Green Zone’

Cities and regions hold keys for Green Deal success

POLIS, TDA and C40 launch the How-to Guide on Zero-Emission Zones for Freight

COVID-19 is an opportunity to change urban mobility for the better, cities and regions say

Join us at Autonomy’s Get Our Cities Moving programme

Upcoming workshops on urban freight: zero-emission and kerbside management

Testing the Resilient City: New edition of Thinking Cities puts spotlight on COVID

Gothenburg launches survey on traffic data analysis and monitoring

CoExist project hosts successful online final event

SPROUT Webinar: Understanding Transition in Urban Mobility

SPROUT Open Innovation Community officially kicks off activities

How to integrate urban nodes in the TEN-T corridors?

Become a host organisation for the H2020 HiReach project

Mobility as a Service: Polis members to showcase results at IMOVE final event

ASSURED workshop on the deployment of e-trucks in urban areas

SLoCaT: National Focal Points volunteers wanted in Europe

Gothenburg opens Sweden’s first logistics centre for electric cargo bikes

Read the fourth issue of the CoEXist Newsletter
27 September, ASSURED Workshop – Utility and delivery e-trucks and e-vans
New issue of Thinking Cities released: “Finding balance in the thinking city”
What do policy makers want to know about the impact of connected automated vehicles?
Geofencing – new tool in town!
What do policy makers want to know about the impact of connected and automated vehicles?

Making transport more accessible and inclusive for all: new approaches and solutions, 18 June 2019 – Groningen (NL).
The path towards making cities “Automation-Ready”

Upcoming Polis Working Group meetings in 2019
The third CoEXist newsletter is available
Gothenburg wins Thinking Cities Award

Join the Transport Day 2018 at the COP24 in Katowice, Poland
Draft programme of 2018 Polis Conference released
Invitation to POLIS Breakfast Briefing: The perspective of cities & regions on road vehicle automation
Polis members of working group on bike sharing met in Manchester to take a closer look at the first free-floating bike scheme launched in a major European city
Mobility Efficiency working group meeting: CCAM research partnership

POLIS at the VREF Conference on Urban Freight

Urban transport innovation in the aftermath of COVID-19. Have the disruptors been disrupted?

CoEXist Final Conference

CoEXist webinar: Automation-ready transport modelling tools
Polis-Gothenburg-Volvo workshop: Geofencing – new tool in town!
1st LEVITATE Stakeholder Group meeting
Autonomy Paris: Autonomy Mobility World Expo 2023
GeoSence Result Conference
MOVE21 and SCALE-UP Final Event
Planning Urban and Trans-European Mobility Together
SPROUT Final Conference
Cities in motion – Volume III: ‘A city for whom?’
