The One Planet Living Project is a global concept with the vision to create a world “where people enjoy happy, healthy lives within the natural limits of the planet, leaving space for wildlife and wilderness.” Elsinore joined the project in 2018, but One Planet Living continuously develops and grows, with many more municipalities joining the programme.
Part of the concept is a standardised framework that comprises 10 principles and goals and guidance which have been developed by Bioregional and the World Wildlife Fund.
Starting situation
Elsinore was invited to join the project and it was launched in April 2018. The city wanted to do more with companies which aligned with the creation of a new Climate and Sustainability Plan for the municipality. The plan included the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, so it was a good match.
The municipality has a Council for Green Transformation, and they were appointed to find companies that had the ambition to be frontrunners in the green transition and collaborate with them.
For the participating organisations, free consultancy was available via Bioregional. Consultants were able to help with the creation of a plan and realistic goals.
Implementation
The project ended at the beginning of 2021. The municipality is taking actions to organise sustainability sessions with companies from around Elsinore to allow the sharing of knowledge and expertise.
Various types of companies joined the project, which created very different results.
There is no longer the option for free consultancy.
The municipality itself has also followed the One Planet Living framework which has helped it form its own Climate and Sustainability Plan. For example, it was decided to focus more on energy conservation, the transition of diesel and gasoline into electricity and/or biogas in (heavy) vehicles, and the inclusion of biodiversity and climate adaptation in the plan.
Challenges
When the project started, sustainability was not such a mandatory and explicit topic. This meant that only the organisations that were already interested joined, even yet though free consultancy was offered to joining parties. It is believed that if the project had started this year, more organisations would have taken on the opportunity to join it.
Results
The results are mostly in the lessons learned by the municipality. They have not yet contacted all the organisations that joined to ask for an update.
Due to the project, a Green Business Saloon has been organised in order to keep the conversation about sustainability open with organisations in the municipality.
One big change is that the ferries that go to and from the mainland are now fully powered by electric batteries. This is great as it improves the air quality in the surrounding environments. Next to this, the ferry company is serving more sustainable food in their cafeteria. Looking at the number of passengers (ferries depart hourly) this makes a significant impact.
Learnings and recommendations
- Get to know the local organisations and your city. Talk to them, get them involved.
- Promote the opportunity of free counselling to companies. This is available for a limited period of time but can be very valuable.
Learn more about joining the project on the One Planet Living website. You can also see Elsinore’s One Planet Living Action Plan here.