According to The Guardian, Tomer Shalit came up with the idea to help cities in Sweden become more sustainable in 2018, as he noticed that "there were solid, ambitious targets, but no roadmaps for reaching them."
"There was a ton of evidence, but no concrete action plans. And nothing was connected", he added.
The team of his startup, called ClimateView, developed a platform, ClimateOS, with the aim to help cities around the world make a solid strategy and to help them during their clean transition.
ClimateOS allows cities to view which activities drive the most carbon emissions and how these can be improved with regards to efficiency, but also how authorities can reduce the emissions released.
Recently, the tool was updated to allow urban planners to take into account socioeconomic consequences, like replacing personal cars with public transport or bike lanes in certain areas, which can reduce traffic levels and improve people's health at the same time.
Shalit explained that "it will show, of course, the reduction in emissions. But also the knock-on effects: the health benefits from cleaner air, for example, as well as from people doing more, and more regular, exercise – such as less heart disease."
Over 50 cities in the world are currently using the services provided by the Swedish startup to improve urban planning, including Madrid, Malmö, Kiel and Bristol.
Furthermore, the founder says that the more cities start using the services, the better ClimateOS will be, since it implies sharing data and know-how from previous projects, which can be applied and adapted to fit the needs of virtually most cities.
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