To know what we want to do and where we want to go, we need to know where we are. When we decided that we wanted to work more closely together around the development of Djurgården, sustainability issues were the natural starting point. We also knew that our work needed to be backed up with facts. That was why we carried out an initial analysis in spring 2017, together with the company U&We. Together, the newly-formed sustainability team at Djurgården and U&We sent out tailored surveys to our then 41 KDI members. We also carried out interviews with eight of them. We chose to focus on the following areas and gather statistics from the previous year, 2016.
- Purchasing & Suppliers
- Food & Drink
- Freight & Public Transport
- Societal development
The surveys included questions on the proportion of organic ingredients our members use, how much waste they typically have, the types of energy they use, transport, accessibility and much more.
We were able to deduce the following positives and strengths within our member network:
- An interest in working together
- Members who are leaders in their field
- Strong in accessibility
- Exciting individual initiatives that could be shared with others
Once we were clued up on the facts, we had a clear idea of where we were having the greatest impact. Based on this, we came up with four focus areas for our continued work: A car-free, fossil-free Djurgården; A sustainable food culture; Djurgården – a world exhibition on sustainability; Open, accessible and welcoming.
In 2019, we conducted a follow-up survey to see how things had developed and what our members had done over the previous two years. We focused on our restaurants in particular. This was because they had since joined the Sustainable Restaurants network, where part of their work is to measure and keep track of their impact, and ultimately develop.
It was rewarding to see how our members had improved over the two years. More measured and kept track of their figures, bought certified products, had purchasing policies in place, used renewable electricity and facilitated access for all.
Continuous improvement
The idea of measuring impact every two years has now hit a brick wall. The figures for 2020 will have been significantly affected by the closures caused by the pandemic. Given that figures from attractions that have been forced to close are not of much use, a decision on whether to move the inventory back by one year will be made shortly.
We carry out the majority of our sustainability work at Djurgården together (17.6,17)
The ‘Sustainable food culture’ focus area promotes, among other things, sustainable consumption and production (12.2,3,4,5,8)
A fossil-free and car-free Djurgården reduces Stockholm’s environmental impact and promotes inclusive cities (11.2,3,4,6)
Djurgården’s attractions are joining forces for sustainable tourism (8.1,6,8,9)
The ‘A world exhibition on sustainability’ focus area addresses the many ways we can combat climate change (13.3)
An open, accessible and welcoming Djurgården applies to everyone (10.2,3,7)
