Copenhagen: the world’s green capital

Accidentally stumbling across the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels online was simply one of the greatest things to happen to me, academically. I was absolutely taken aback and inspired by the designs I was met with, and how they were all, inevitably, working towards the same goal of sustainable designs and building a better future world. This belief is key for most Danish architects and designers, stemming from Copenhagen's relationship with sustainability and the environment.

In 2012, Copenhagen's 2025 Climate Plan was adopted by the Copenhagen City Council, which consisted of the plan to make Copenhagen the world's first carbon-neutral city by 2025 (The City of Copenhagen; technical and environmental administration, 2012). Despite, at the time of writing this, it being 2025 and not having fully reached their goal, Copenhagen underwent some serious changes which have now resulted in a cleaner and overall happier city. The city underwent several upgrades, including switching from coal to biomass and installing both land and off-shore wind turbines, as well as establishing a geothermal plant and phasing fossil fuels out (The City of Copenhagen; technical and environmental administration, 2012).

Image 1- Copenhagen (Rousing, T., 2025)

The people of Copenhagen also played a big role in creating a green city, with the addition of an extensive bike lane network as well as bike-sharing systems for the Copenhageners to use (Petrea, M., I., & Ursache, I., M., 2023). Digital platforms are also used to communicate information about the current state of the city to its inhabitants, for instance, the air pollution or waste management- which is also transported across the city through underground vacuums, in order to not excessively use trucks, which emit unwanted CO2 into the atmosphere (Petrea, M., I., & Ursache, I., M., 2023).

Image 2- Amager Bakke/ CopenHill (Hjortshøj, R., n.d.)

I was so influenced and inspired by Copenhagen's sustainable mission that in February 2024, for my 18th birthday, my family and I took a weekend trip to visit the Danish capital. While exploring, I was amazed to see how clean the city was, how clean the air was and how little cars there were on the roads- but an extensive and well-linked public transport system and lots and lots of cyclists. In truth, it wasn't just Copenhagen's sustainable mission that lead to this trip, but also a building which I was, and still am, in complete awe of. Amager Bakke, or CopenHill (see Image 2, above) is the cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world, and designed by none other than Bjarke Ingels (Bjarke Ingels Group, 2020). If that wasn't enough, Amager Bakke also functions as a dry ski slope, with natural turf and indigenous trees and bushes (Bjarke Ingels Group, 2020). There are no toxins emitted from the chimney, mainly steam and a reduced amount of CO2 (Bjarke Ingels Group, 2020). Visiting this sustainable giant, and hiking up the slopes ignited a passion and drive in me, to always put the environment at the foreground of all of my designs.

Image 3- Amagervaerket BI04 (Toft, A., 2020)

Located a stones throw away from Amager Bakke, lays another power plant- Amagervaerket BI04 (see Image 3, above), which includes tree trunks as part of the facade- this conveys Copenhagen's recent transition from fossil fuels to sustainable and renewable energy (Beilin et al, n.d.).

Both power plants are only small pieces of the puzzle that is helping Copenhagen reach its goal and become the worlds most sustainable and eco-friendly city in the world. Copenhagen has and continues to pave the way for sustainability in architecture and has cemented itself as the world's green capital.

References:

Bjarke Ingels Group. (2020). Formgiving: An Architectural Future History. Taschen.

Beilin, S., M., & Kirkelund, A., H., & Brams, R., & Johnson, K., P., & Overgaard, A., V., & Andersen, H., N., & Reeves, C. (n.d.). Guide to New Architecture in Copenhagen. (Lloyd Language Services,  Trans.). Danish Architecture Centre

The City of Copenhagen: technical and environmental administration. Cph 2025 Climate Plan: A Green, Smart and Carbon neutral city. 2012.https://kk.sites.itera.dk/apps/kk_pub2/index.asp?mode=detalje&id=983

Hjortshøj, R., (n.d.). https://nordic.iaks.sport/en/news/activity-area-top-waste-energy-plant

Petrea, M. I., & Ursache, I. M. (2023, June). Inside the World’s most sustainable smart city: lessons from Copenhagen. In Proceedings of the International Conference on “Sustainable Development of European Smart Cities”—SmartEU.

Rousing, T. (2025). https://www.wonderfulcopenhagen.com/wonderful-copenhagen/international-press/international-press/introduction-copenhagen

Toft, A., (2020). https://stateofgreen.com/en/solutions/amagervaerket-bio4/