As Clean Technica reports, Copenhagen is placing tremendous focus on cycling as an alternative for cars in and around the city and has created “bicycle superhighways.” Currently, 36 percent of all trips taken to work or school are via bike, and at peak travel times, more than 20,000 cyclists enter the city every day. The capital’s goal is for 75 percent of all trips to be via bike by 2025. The city’s Metro is also going through an overhaul as the new “City Circle Line” would be within 650 yards from 85 percent of the city’s population.
An interesting point to note in the Copenhagen case study is the active participation of many residents. Copenhagen residents are putting their own money into low-carbon efforts, and as a result, many projects are moving forward at a rapid rate. Direct city investment is projected at $472 million, but with private funds factored in, total investments could reach as high as $4.78 billion. As Mayor Jensen explains, “We can see also that we can create a lot of new jobs with that huge investment. Copenhagen can be a green laboratory for developing and testing new green solutions.”
In the U.S., both businesses and institutions are implementing carbon neutrality programs of their own. The Portland Press Herald in Portland, Maine, wrote on Maine’s Colby College, which recently announced it is the fourth college in the country to become 100 percent carbon neutral. The first college to achieve this was The College of the Atlantic, also in Maine. GreenBiz wrote about how a PNC Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is selling excess power to Florida Power & Light Company through a net metering program. There’s no doubt that from local governments to neighborhood businesses, carbon neutrality commitments are on the rise.