Stockholm environmentalist tour

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, has been a forerunner in the environmentalist movement and sustainable development. This tour is a showcase of polluting infrastructure and environmental protection, as well as sites of the environmentalist movement, and the dilemmas of limiting the footprint of a city of a million citizens.

Walking tours in Stockholm History tour Stockholm Main Street Quay palace tour Södermalm heights tour Jewish tour Environmentalist tour Millennium Tour Swedish Grace tour Lidingö history tour Military tour Haunted tour Viking tour

Understand

See also: Nordic history

Sweden has had a prominent role in the natural sciences since the 18th century, with Carl Linnaeus founding systematic biology, and Anders Celsius inventing the 100-degree temperature scale. In 1896, physicist Svante Arrhenius described the greenhouse effect. Since 1901, Stockholm hosts the Nobel Prize ceremony. The rise of Nordic nationalism in the 19th century included appreciation of nature and outdoor life as a pastime; and the sparse population allowed the right to roam. Naturvårdsverket (the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency) was founded in 1967, as the first of its kind.

With vast distances, Sweden has had a love story with the automobile (see driving in Sweden), famous for brands such as Volvo, Saab, and Scania. While Swedish cars and trucks have traditionally been heavier and thirstier than other European brands, the makers are now pioneering fuel efficiency and electric engines. Stockholm was redeveloped during the 1960s with an extensive system of highways and sprawling suburbs, brought to a halt in the early 1970s with a rising environmentalist movement, as well as the 1973 oil crisis. Since the 2010s, car lanes and parking lots have been reduced to make room for cyclists and pedestrians.

Sweden has close to zero domestic fossil fuel deposits (except peat) and has been phasing out coal and oil for strategic reasons already since the 1970s oil crisis. As the climate agenda has become important, Sweden has a realistic aim for a carbon-free economy. Still, motorways have been expanded around the city many of them underground, with controversy over continued pollution, fossil dependency, and suburban sprawl.

Stockholm, just as other large cities, used to be troubled by sewage well into the mid-20th century, and later by industrial pollution and vehicle emissions. Today, the air is famously clean, and the water in lake Mälaren is good enough to drink.

Get in

While Stockholm has several airports nearby, a greener approach would be a train from Oslo or Copenhagen; see Rail and bus travel in Sweden. Trains from west and south make a glorious entry to Stockholm, across bridges with an astounding view of Lake Mälaren.

Stockholm can also be reached by sailing boat through Stockholm archipelago; see boating in the Baltic Sea.

Get around

Public transport in Stockholm County is run by SL. Since 2018, all buses are fossil-free.

Urban cycling is a good method to get around Stockholm, at least when weather is decently warm; see Cycling in Sweden. The bicycle lane system has been expanded during the 2010s. The city has had a bike rental system as well as electric scooter operators; as of 2024 their outlook is uncertain. Some hotels let out bikes to their guests.

Cars are subject to congestion tax, and some parts of the inner city require Euro 5 or higher emission standard (see Driving in Sweden). Taxis are rather expensive, and do not follow a fixed price. Driving in Stockholm is rarely necessary, in any case.

Destinations

Leg 1: Central Stockholm

• 1 Mynttorget (Gamla stan). The square next to the parliament building is the location of public protests, including Greta Thunberg's climate strike.  
• 2 Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet). Built between 1697 and 1754, the Royal Palace is the official residence of the king of Sweden. The reigning king Carl XVI Gustaf (who lives in Drottningholm in Ekerö) has För Sverige i tiden ("For Sweden, with the times") as his motto; as an avid environmentalist, he has had solar panels installed on the palace roof.  
• 3 Strömkajen. The ferries to the Stockholm archipelago used to run on coal-powered steam engines, which were over time converted for diesel propulsion. By 2030, all public transportation ferries will be fossil-free.  
• 4 Kungsträdgården elm trees. The name "the King's Garden" bears witness of the original function as a closed-off royal park, open to the public only since the 18th century. Today it is used for festivals and other public events. Out of several redevelopments of the park, the most controversial was a metro exit, which was to be built in 1971, requiring the destruction of thirteen elm trees. Public protests forced the government to back down, and relocate the exit to a nearby building.  

Elm tree scarred by a chainsaw in 1971.

• 5 Swedish Wall. A 1969 artwork by Siri Derkert. Just like her most famous work on the Östermalmstorg metro station, it contains feminist, pacifist and environmentalist slogans.  
• 6 Environmental obelisks (Miljöobelisker). Since 1994, these obelisks provide a live bar chart of pollution and other parameters for air and water in Stockholm. 
• 1 Nordiska Museet (The Nordic Museum), Djurgårdsvägen 6-16. A museum of cultural history from 1520 to our days, in an impressive 1907 cathedral-like building on Djurgården. Exhibitions focus on Swedish handicraft, customs and traditions. The museum also displays the effect of global warming on the Arctic and the indigenous peoples, including the Sami culture.  
• 2 Skansen. Founded in 1891, Skansen is the world's oldest open-air museum, containing a zoological garden specializing in Nordic fauna, such as moose, reindeer, boar, bear, wolf, lynx and wolverine, with information about their conservation status. It features over 150 historic buildings from previous centuries, relocated from all parts of Sweden. Skansen has been paramount in species conservation, especially for the European bison. An addition from 2018 is an aquarium which displays the environmental threats to the Baltic Sea.  
• 3 Henriksdal sewage treatment plant. A sewage treatment plant was built here in 1941. Expanded over the decades, it is today a state-of-the-art facility, which extracts biogas for vehicles, replacing fossil fuel gas. The chimney is visible around most of Stockholm. On the hill is an apartment complex nicknamed dasslocket ("the toilet lid") where Miljöpartiet (the Green Party) was founded on 30 September 1980, by five people at the kitchen table of sociologist and politician Per Gahrton.  
• 4 Hammarby Sjöstad (Södermalm). A former industrial slum which was considered as the main venue of the 2004 Olympics, which were instead held in Athens. Torn down in 2002 to make place for a new district, intended to be a hallmark of energy efficiency and recycling.  
• 1 Östermalmstorg metro station. A 1965 station in brutalist concrete. The art by Siri Derkert has themes from the 1960s feminist, anti-war and environmentalist movements. This is a practical place for transfer to the second leg, starting at Ropsten.  

Leg 2: Norra Djurgården

Djurgården literally means "animal yard" and was Royal hunting grounds, partially enclosed. Hjorthagen is a neighborhood named by the Royal deer enclosure. Parts of the fence remains, and occasional stray animals, including deer, can be seen.

• 2 Ropsten metro station. This 1967 metro station is in a souterrain; both inside the bedrock and also elevated. Its proposed expansion to Lidingö has yet to be realized. The artworks on this station are few; some of them are on the walls of the conveyor belt to the Hjorthagen exit.  

• 1 Värtahamnen. Stockholm's main harbour during the 20th century. The environmental impact of ship transport has been under scrutiny, and in the 2010s, much of the freight was relocated to Nynäshamn to reduce traffic through the Stockholm archipelago. The Baltic Sea ferries still dock here. Much of the freight harbour area is under redevelopment for housing.  
• 7 Värtaverket (Östermalm). A power plant opened in 1903. It used coal for much of its history, until the coal boilers were finally shut down in 2020. Since then, all fuels are renewable. The facility plans to begin carbon storaging in 2028, creating a negative carbon footprint.  
• 8 Ropsten heat pumps. A heat pump is a machine which uses electricity to increase a temperature gradient; making a hot place hotter, and a cold place colder, similar to a refrigerator or an air conditioner. The heat pumps in Ropsten use seawater for district heating and district cooling, at higher power efficiency than electric heating. Air conditioning remains a bit of a luxury in Sweden, not commonplacr in housing. 
• 5 Lidingöbron. Lidingö has over the centuries been connected to Stockholm by several bridges; two remaining as of 2024. The first urban motorway in Stockholm was Essingeleden, opened in 1966. Stockholm had plans for an extensive motorway system including a circular beltway. Plans were cancelled in the 1970s due to the growing environmentalist movement, as well as the 1973 oil crisis. The oversized road bridge to Lidingö was planned to be the extension of a motorway through the inner city, Rådmansleden, which was never completed. The rail bridge with generous bicycle lanes was built in the 2020s, replacing an old bridge from the 1920s.  
• 9 Toll booth. Since 2007, Stockholm levies a congestion tax from cars passing in or out of the inner city, depending on time of the day. The model was controversial when introduced, but has now been adapted by many other cities around the world, including London and New York City. 
• 2 Stockholm Gas Works. The Stockholm Gas Works produced hydrocarbon fuel gas from 1893 to 2011, using imported coal and oil. The emissions polluted both air and ground, and the whole facility was dismantled in 2011. During the 2010s, the contaminated ground was sanitized, making place for a new urban district. Most of the original buildings by architect Ferdinand Boberg remain, re-opening for new uses throughout the 2020s.  
• 10 Petroleum gasworks. Four processing units which made gas from liquid petroleum. They are no longer of practical use, and all except one will be dismantled. 
• 11 Coal house. A wooden warehouse for coal, which will be dismantled and rebuilt as a market hall. 
• 1 Building 20: Mechanical building. The original building was destroyed by an explosion in 1935, and the current building was finished in 1938. Hosts Systembolaget, the national liquor store. Organic farming has seen a rise in Sweden, and an increasing number of beers and liquors are organic. 
• 12 Building 8: Purification building. Finished in 1893 for purification of coal gas. Hosts the Berghs School of Communication. 
• 13 Stockholm Transport Museum (Stockholms spårvägsmuseum). The regeneration building of the gas works is used as a museum of public transportation in Stockholm system, with an emphasis on trams.  
• 14 Building 10: Purification building. Built in 1905 and used for water gas. Office for Sandvik AB. 
• 15 Gasometer building. A building used as a gasometer building and a laboratory. Finished in 1893 as one of the most spectacular buildings in the cluster. Used as a climbing arena today. 
• 1 Building 27: Steam boiler building. Hosts a brewery. 
• 2 Building 14: Workshop. An 1893 building which was not in itself part of the gas production line; it was designed for workers, rather than machinery. Hosts a restaurant and a bakery. 
• 16 Office building. The gas works office building is the site office during the redevelopment phase. As the historic interiors have been dismantled, it will convert to rental apartments. 
• 17 Gasometer 1. A brick gas holder finished in 1893. Will be transformed to a hotel set to open in 2026. 
• 18 Gasometer 2. A larger gas holder which was in use from 1899. Will become a performance stage set to open in 2026. 
• 19 Gasometer 5. A spherical gas holder built in 1972. It will be transformed to an office building. 
• 20 Gasometer 3. The metallic frame of a dismantled gas holder. An art gallery is planned within the frame. 
• 21 Gasometer 4. A metal gas holder, the tallest one, was dismantled to the ground in 2018. A residential skyscraper is planned on this spot. 
• 22 Lyell's oak. Scottish geologist Charles Lyell investigated the receding surface of the Baltic Sea by studying this oak in 1835. In the 1840s, scientists proposed that the bedrock of northern Europe is continuously rising due to post-glacial rebound; see Ice Age traces.  
• 23 Karl XI's fishing hut. A higher point of reference to the post-glacial rebound, as it was at the waterfront in the 17th century.  
• 24 Norra länken (Northern link). Since the 2010s, Stockholm is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped expressway. As the northern highway link was planned to traverse the national city park, the idea was controversial from the beginning, requiring it to be built in a tunnel. Art inside the tunnel references the environment on the surface. The eastern part of the beltway is still considered as of the 2020s, either as a bridge or a tunnel, but remains controversial.  
• 25 Theo. The 2018 statue of a poodle commemorates Hundstallet, a dog shelter which was located across the street from 1928 to 2005, where the apartment buildings are now. Today, the shelter is in Åkeshov. 
• 26 Ventilation tower. The ventilation tower for the highway tunnel is made of wood to blend into the forest. 
• 6 R1 Reactor Hall. Sweden's first experimental nuclear reactor. As in other countries, nuclear technology has been controversial in Sweden. Sweden's Cold War non-alignment policy led to a nuclear weapons program, which was just a few grams of plutonium short of a live bomb test; but since the 1960s the country has adhered to the non-proliferation treaty. A national referendum in 1980 led to the ambiguous result to phase out nuclear power in Sweden; while the proposed deadline was 2010, the country still has three active nuclear power plants in 2020, supplying nearly half of the country's electricity. Access only during special events.  
• 7 Swedish Museum of Natural History (Naturhistoriska riksmuseet), Frescativägen 40 (T Universitetet and then bus 40 or 540). The museum's displays animals, plants, fungi, minerals and fossils from all continents, some acquired during the voyages of James Cook. Feature exhibits of evolution, the polar areas, and Scandinavian nature.  

Go next

• Älvkarleby has one of Sweden's oldest hydroelectric power plants, built for Stockholm's power supply.
• Stockholm history tour from the Viking Age to present day.
• Södermalm heights tour; the greatest views from the city's oldest and simplest buildings
• Stockholm labour tour, a showcase of the unions and Social Democratic Party, both cooperating and at odds with the green movement
• Stockholm quay palace tour; the best of Nordic architecture