Copenhagen’s Carbon Neutral Greenwashing
It was back in 2012 that Copenhagen started its journey to becoming “the world’s first carbon neutral capital by 2025”. Right off the bat, I’d like you to notice my use of quotation marks. Shortly after it was announced, the hype about this municipal goal gained considerable media purchase. It swelled and swelled for years until it became a hype tsunami. It’s been absolutely everywhere, in a veritable labyrinth of documents, websites, articles, news reports, you name it.
I have previously done some reading up on the topic, and I knew from early on that there was a strong element of marketing involved. I just didn’t know exactly how much. I decided to take a deep dive into the topic, not least because the date is fast approaching, but also because I’ve been talking to a couple of friends and colleagues of mine who wrote the book “Street Fights in Copenhagen — Bicycle and Car Politics in a Green Mobility City”.
I learned so much from both our conversations and the book. When you dig deeper than the headlines or staying above the scroll on the website, things change drastically. Skeletons emerge from the closet. So let’s try to do some myth busting of what really is the biggest bag of…
