Malmö is arguably the most international city in Sweden, with 184 nationalities living in the city. Since the early 2000’s, Malmö has undergone a transition from industrial city to a sustainable and cultural hub. Being a multicultural city, issues of international human rights and ethics are high on the agenda. Malmö was the first city in Scandinavia to become a Fairtrade City in 2006, the first Swedish city to issue social bonds in 2020, and has a prominent scene of CSO’s acting for sustainability, climate justice and human rights.
Acting locally for a global impact is well embedded in the city’s procurement procedures, and the city has, for example, gone from 0,5% to 99% ethical coffee consumption in 12 years. Achievements like this make us eager to reach more goals.
In Malmö, it should be “Lätt att göra rätt”, which means it should be easy for anyone living in or visiting Malmö to do the right thing, e.g. choose fair trade, organic, local, seasonal food, find sustainable transport, fashion, entertainment etc. There is a large number of businesses and organizations providing sustainable offers throughout the city, many of these you can find on The Smart Map of Malmö and Ekoguiden Malmö.
In Malmö we also have a long tradition of international collaboration. In 2021, the ICLEI World Congress will be hosted by Malmö. In the coming years, Malmö will accelerate its transition to a climate neutral city. This will mean a high level of electrification of transport, where we want to spearhead the development of ethical batteries.