Mr. Carl-Olof Bengtsson, former mayor of Växjö, receives the award from Evelyne Huytebroeck, Minister of the Environment from the Région Bruxelles-Capitale.

Växjö wins Sustainable Energy Europe Award

Växjö (Sweden) is the winner of the Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2007 in the category Sustainable Communities, for Fossil Fuel Free Växjö.

Fossil Free Växjö is a program initiated by the city of Växjö to reduce the human impact on global climate change. Between 1993 and 2005, the carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels were reduced by 24 percent per person, and the share of renewable energy is now over 50 percent.

The program incorporates different types of activities, such as biomass-based district heating and power generation, smaller scale district heating, district cooling, biomass boilers for households, energy efficient street lighting, energy efficient building/construction, solar panels, cycle paths, environmentally friendly cars, biogas production, large scale bio-DME production, and others.

The award was given within the “Sustainable Energy for Europe Campaign”, a campaign initiated by the European Commission, and which will contribute to achieve the European Union’s energy policy targets within the fields of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, clean transport and alternative fuels.