Creating a more sustainable district is not only about building environmentally certified and energy-efficient buildings, many of the important efforts are also in the transport sector. CERO (Climate and Economic Research in Organizations) is a concept developed to help organisations find economically sustainable strategies to reach set climate goals for travel.

CERO is a methodology that we have worked according to for many years in order to be able to develop sustainable travel to and from our areas. The methodology helps us map travel habits with the help of a comprehensive travel habits survey, the results of which are then used to continue developing public transport and services in each area with the aim of reducing the climate footprint when traveling to and from our properties.

Read more about CERO here.

What do the numbers of the climate target mean?

The global climate target for 2030 corresponds to an 8 % CO2 reduction per year. But what does that mean in practice? Below are some examples of what changes in travel habits the employees in Arenastaden could make to reduce CO2 emissions in Arenastaden by 1 %.

Examples of 1 % CO2 reductions in Arenastaden

Travel habits survey 2022

During the early summer, we, together with the companies* in Arenastaden, once again carried out an extensive travel habits survey among the approximately 22,000 employees who have their workplace in Arenastaden.

The result shows that an overwhelming majority of employees in Arenastaden travel emission-efficiently to the district by public transport, bicycle, walk, rechargeable car, moped or electric scooter, which resulted in a gratifying reduction of the climate footprint by 46 % since the base measurement in 2019.

The three main explanations for the reduction in emissions are:

The survey shows, among other things, that improved public transport and investments in bicycle infrastructure could make even more of those who commute to work give up the car. So there is a continued high ambition among both employees and companies in Arenastaden to further increase the share of sustainable travel.

We are very happy that, together with the companies and employees in the district, we have come one step closer to our long-term goal of halving the emissions from work commuting to and from Arenastaden by 2030.

Mia Häggström, Head of Sustainability at Fabege

With this fine result, Arenastaden once again has the lowest emissions from work commuting per capita in the ten city districts and business areas that have carried out CERO analyses.

Arenastaden has emerged as a good example of what a powerful actor-driven change process towards a sustainable transport system can look like, where property owners in collaboration with companies agree to jointly address the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, map the employees' travel situation and identify an optimised combination of measures through a scientific developed methodology based on statistical behaviour analysis.

Arenastaden is now a benchmark example both in Sweden and internationally.

Markus Robèrt, docent KTH and founder of CERO

Next step

Fabege has together with ICA, Siemens, Carlsberg Sweden, SEB, Apoteket, Telia, Unibail Rodamco Westfield and Vattenfall started a network which, in close relationship with the municipality, Keolis and MTR, will continue the work according to the developed action plan to ensure that the district goes in pace with the global climate goals for 2030.

Examples of planned measures are:

• continued expansion of charging points for electric vehicles
• improved cycle paths
• new and/or improved public transport connections
• widened range of sharing services for cars, electric mopeds and electric bicycles

Base measurement 2019

In June 2019, we carried out our second (first carried out in 2015) extensive travel habits survey together with the companies* in Arenastaden, to map the current situation and analyse how the approximately 22,000 employees who have their workplace in the district get to and from work. That base measurement received the highest measured value of sustainable travel in the then ten analysed city districts and was the basis for the action plan that was drawn up to streamline commuting and business trips to and from the area in close relationship with the municipality, SL and MTR.

In 2019, Arenastaden was awarded the award "CERO benchmark - climate-efficient district" for its good results and positive climate effects.

*Participating companies in the travel habits survey in Arenastaden: Keolis, Telia, Siemens, Apoteket, SEB, Vattenfall, ICA, URW and Carlsberg.