With its Climate Plan 2020, Allerød Municipality has set an ambitious course to transform the local community into a climate-neutral and resilient entity by 2050 (p. 5). This plan is not merely a political document but a necessary response to the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global temperature rise, which the city council has chosen to address locally through the DK2020 collaboration (p. 4, 5). For Allerød, the effort is about uniting close-to-nature living with modern urban development, as expressed in the vision "Close to each other – close to nature", where partnerships across citizens and businesses form the foundation (p. 3, 4). To understand the scope of the task, one must look at the municipality's current emissions profile. In the baseline year 2018, Allerød geographically emitted 161 ktonnes of CO2e per year, equivalent to 6.3 tonnes per capita (p. 7). A significant portion of these emissions comes from electricity and heating, which together account for 62% of the total (p. 7). The transport sector follows at 26%, equivalent to 42 ktonnes per year (p. 7). Although per capita emissions have fallen from 9.1 tonnes in 1990, the municipality faces a significant challenge as the population and amount of residential square metres continue to grow (p. 7, 8). What makes Allerød unique in a climate context is the combination of a very high income level and a population that has already embraced the green transition. The municipality has the country's fifth-highest share of electric vehicles per capita, and nearly 80% of citizens have the ability to park and charge on their own property (p. 8, 18). At the same time, the business community features forward-thinking companies that have collaborated in the Carbon20 network for over ten years (p. 3). A distinctive local geography with state-owned land at Sjælsø also gives the municipality a unique opportunity to engage in dialogue with the Defence about establishing wetlands that can sequester carbon in the soil (p. 19). The most effective measures in the plan focus on the largest sources of emissions: heating and transport. A top priority is the rollout of district heating and heat pumps to phase out the approximately 600 homes still heated with oil, as well as the many natural gas furnaces (p. 12, 14). Since businesses account for 55% of electricity consumption, a targeted solar panel strategy for commercial areas is another flagship project to ensure local renewable energy production (p. 15, 16). These measures were chosen because they are based on proven technology, ensuring rapid and measurable reductions towards 2030 (p. 10). Despite the many positive trends, there are honest challenges for which the plan does not yet have complete solutions. Ea Energy Analyses' projections show residual emissions of 13 ktonnes in 2050, primarily from agriculture, heavy transport and industrial processes where technology is not yet mature enough to eliminate emissions entirely (p. 27). The municipality also acknowledges that the global impact of citizens' consumer goods falls outside the local accounts, but chooses to address it through plastic recycling and procurement strategies (p. 20, 21). Citizen engagement is integrated into all aspects of the plan. Through the Green Guide and campaigns such as "Citizens on the Pitch", knowledge is shared from neighbour to neighbour, while the municipality acts as a facilitator removing barriers (p. 14, 17). Although the road to 2050 is long, Allerød is betting that strong local communities and close collaboration with Novafos on climate adaptation will create a municipality that is both CO2-neutral and resilient to future cloudbursts (p. 11, 22).

Source: Klimaplan 2020 (2020)