Aarhus’ Sustainability Committee wants fewer trucks in the city

It is proposing changes to the way businesses receive their goods

Like the majority of today’s Danish municipalities, Aarhus is looking for ways to become a greener and cleaner city. For this reason, the City Council has previously formed a Sustainability Committee which it has tasked with finding strategies to achieve these goals. Now, this committee has shared that it wants to reform the way the city centre shops, restaurants, and cafes receive their goods.

More specifically, Aarhus’ Sustainability Committee seeks to reduce noise pollution and decrease CO2 emissions by decreasing the number of trucks that drive into the city centre. Therefore, this body has outlined and submitted six recommendations that the City Council must analyse and decide on.

Using smaller vehicles and allocating delivery hours

The committee has worked alongside various companies and associations to develop its proposals. Chairman of the Sustainability Committee Anders Winnerskjold discussed these submissions, explaining that the City Council must investigate the possibility of using smaller vehicles for the delivery of goods.

It is a well-known fact that heavy trucks and large vehicles emit more CO2 than smaller cars. Therefore, the committee proposes that small and light goods be delivered via cars or bicycles rather than trucks. In addition to this, it further recommends a pilot project whereby deliveries must take place at earlier times when there is less traffic.  

The needs of citizens and local businesses are still prioritised as Winnerskjold notes that shops, restaurants, and cafes must not be negatively impacted by the reforms: “It is very important to us that shops and other businesses in the city centre can still have goods delivered in a flexible way, and that we do not come up with a lot of new restrictions that make it more troublesome to run a business in Aarhus.”

The City Council will assess all of the recommendations before making its final decision on Wednesday, 18 August.