The City of Lahti has been selected for the EU Urban Mission’s new Enabling City Transformation funding program. With the program’s support, Lahti will launch the ZERO TRAIL project (Towards Zero-emission Urban Transport and Logistics). The project aims to create a sustainable urban logistics program for Lahti, propose regulatory measures, and prepare public charging infrastructure to meet the needs of the electrifying logistics sector.
As the leading implementer, the City of Lahti coordinates the project and drafts the sustainable urban logistics plan. Ladec, the Lahti Region Development Company, will contribute as a co-implementer by developing innovative business models for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. LAB University of Applied Sciences will lead the research and evaluation of policy measures and stakeholder collaboration. The project will officially begin in April 2025 and run for 18 months.
– In climate work, road transport has proven to be the most challenging source of emissions. The logistics sector has significant potential for emission reductions, but the role of cities in development has been minimal, explains Aino Kulonen, Environmental Coordinator for the City of Lahti.
– Lahti has many industry actors and expertise in this field. We can develop emission reduction pathways with these stakeholders through the ZERO TRAIL project.
The Enabling City Transformation program funds projects in 48 cities. The selected initiatives promote citywide transitions toward carbon neutrality, focusing on measures that can be scaled to other European cities. The program has a total budget of €22.6 million and is part of the European Commission’s 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities initiative, also known as the Urban Mission, in which Lahti was selected to participate in 2022.