How Copenhagen is helping tourists go green

Good morning. Today we’re taking a little trip to Copenhagen to explore a new pilot initiative designed to reward tourists for “climate-friendly actions”. The CopenPay scheme has been designed to encourage visitors to act a bit more responsibly and think about their impact on the environment during trips to the Danish capital.

In return for small environmental actions – like cycling to attractions or fishing litter out of the canals – visitors have been rewarded with small gifts such as free ice-cream and museum tours.

As tourists overwhelm other famous cities like Venice, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, could the Copenhagen model be adopted by other municipalities around the world? We’ll get into all the details with Rikke Holm Petersen, who helped create Copenhagen’s scheme, after the headlines.

Five big stories

In depth: ‘There was a gap between intention and action, and we wanted to close that gap’

People arriving at Copenhagen airport or train station over the past month have been met with large green adverts encouraging them to “enjoy Copenhagen attractions through climate-friendly actions”. The pilot scheme, which ran between 15 July and 11 August, was designed to “make tourists think about their impact on the environment here – and everywhere”, says Holm Petersen, one of the masterminds of the project run by Visit Copenhagen.

“We want to make tourism a force for positive change not an environmental burden,” she says. “We want to inspire a greener mindset in tourists while they are visiting Copenhagen and [for them] to take that home with them.”

The idea, she says, is part of Copenhagen’s wider mission to be the world’s most sustainable city, and it was directly inspired by feedback from visitors on leaving the city. “The data showed that four in five visitors said they wanted to act more sustainably during their visit, but only one in five had,” says Holm Petersen, the city’s director of marketing and behaviour. “There was a gap between intention and action, and we wanted to close that gap [and] to turn that willingness into sustainable action.”

What is CopenPay, and how does it work?

Visitors arriving on a bike at CopenHill – the city’s waste incinerator that doubles up as an artificial ski slope – over the past month have been given extra time at the attraction for free. Volunteering to work on Øens Have urban farm on a Tuesday included a reward of a free communal lunch made with the crops you have helped them grow. Spending 30 mins cleaning up the beach after a lesson at Copenhagen Surf School also came with the reward of a free lunch. My personal favourite: visitors could rent from GreenKayak for free, as long as they collected trash while sailing through the harbour and the canals.

These are just some of two dozen “sustainable actions” available under the pilot scheme. As far as Holm Petersen is aware, no one completed all 24. “It would be amazing, if someone has done all of them,” she says. But that’s not really the point of the scheme. “Do we want to reach maximum participation? No. The aim is to encourage sustainability and raise awareness of the choices you have while travelling.”

It’s also meant to be fun. The rewards aren’t designed to be so good that people would do the task to specifically to receive the treat. “It’s about nudging people into being more sustainable,” she says. “It’s fun to get a reward, and to try something new that you wouldn’t have thought of.”

You don’t need to prove you’ve done the task to receive many of the rewards. “Participants can show proof, such as train tickets or photos of themselves biking or participating in cleanup efforts, but generally, CopenPay is built on trust, just as Danish society is the most trusting in the world, according to PEW Research,” material about the scheme explains.

So, some visitors could have cheated. “[But] the only one you would be cheating is yourself if you miss out on doing good for our planet.” Ouch.

As well as tourists, the scheme has been open to everyone, including people from anywhere in Denmark. “We don’t say ‘no’ to anyone,” says Holm Petersen, who has done several of the tasks herself. Her favourite was working at the urban garden with her son.

Too much tourism – or the wrong sort of tourists?

The CopenPay scheme is not designed to attract more people to the city, despite receiving worldwide attention for its ingenuity. There have been a lot of outdoor adverts for it, so many they are in Holm Petersen’s words “hard to avoid seeing”. But they are all in Copenhagen, to inform tourists who have already arrived in the city, not ones who might be planning their next holiday.

Despite working in the tourist office, Holm Peterson prefers not to use the word “tourist”. We prefer “intermediate locals”, she says, explaining that she hopes visitors will view themselves as locals and act as such even if they are only in town for a few days.

Holm Petersen says it’s important to manage the number of tourists in harmony with the local population, and the tourist office regularly surveys the city’s residents on their attitudes towards visitors. “Right now the local support for tourism growth is high,” she says.

“We are not Venice or Barcelona, but we also have mass tourism in July and August and it is about controlling the dispersal so no area gets too crowded.” Venice has introduced a €5 (£4.30) tourist charge to, in the words of the mayor Luigi Brugnaro, make the city “livable” again. And locals in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca have taken to the streets in protest at the tourist influx with banners reading: “Your paradise is our nightmare”.

Holm Petersen says Copenhagen’s brand message is “Don’t just come here, become here”. Every city has its unique challenges with getting tourism right, and she has learned from others across the world. The CopenPay scheme has sparked a lot of interest. “A lot of destinations have been reaching out to ask us about the concept.”

Although the trial run has ended, it seems unlikely to be a one-off. Once the data on the scheme’s impact has been gathered and evaluated, a decision will be made, says Holm Petersen. “It could become permanent – for sure.”

What else we’ve been reading

Omer Bartov (above), a distinguished historian of genocide who was once an IDF soldier, has written an extraordinarily powerful long read about what he learned about “the complete indifference of most Israelis to what is being done in their name” on a recent visit to Israel. “In the face of so much death, this deafening silence now seems like its own form of vengefulness,” he writes. Archie

Here are 10 of the best jokes from the Edinburgh fringe. Some are a more acquired taste than others, but you’ll surely crack a smile at Jack Skipper’s effort (“I failed RE. Couldn’t believe it when I found out. I was like: ‘Oh Jason Christ!’”). Hannah J Davies, deputy editor, newsletters

Team GB won 14 golds and 65 total medals at the Paris Olympics. So what? David Goldblatt argues persuasively that as well as enjoying the podium finishes, we might ask if there are more effective ways to boost the public’s appetite for exercise. Archie

People pleasers assemble: Moya Sarner has written about the life changing magic of saying no, and why your initial urge to say yes might not be about pleasing anyone at all. Hannah

For the London Review of Books, Peter Geoghegan has a superb piece examining Labour’s murky relationship with lobbyists. “I’d be shocked if there isn’t a lobbying scandal in the first year,” a veteran lobby journalist says. “You have so many people working on policies that could really conflict with their company’s clients.” Archie

Sport

Diving | Tom Daley has announced his retirement from diving after winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, bringing an end to the most successful career in the sport’s history in Britain. In an interview with British Vogue, the 30-year-old, who won gold at Tokyo in 2021, said: “[I’ll spend] more time with my kids, knitting, expand my business to get more people into knitting, so watch this space.”

Cricket | Graham Thorpe’s family have said the former England batter took his own life after suffering with depression and anxiety. Thorpe’s daughter Kitty said: “We’ve wanted to be able to talk and share and we’d now like to raise awareness, too. He had loved life and he loved us but he just couldn’t see a way out.”

Football | Scott Parker’s first match as manager of Burnley got off to a flying start with a 4-1 victory away to Luton in the Championship. Luton manager Rob Edwards said: “We showed some vulnerabilities and they punished us.”

The front pages

On the Guardian’s front page, the lead story is “‘Silent killer’ heatwaves in Europe claim 50,000 lives”. In the Daily Telegraph,it’s “Starmer warns Iran: No attack on Israel” as the prime minister urges Tehran to stand down. The i also focusses on the region with “UK plan to evacuate Brit nationals in Israel if Iran triggers war”.

The Mail runs with “Blood on their hands” as it covers a report on failings around the mental health treatment of the Nottingham killer. The Mirror covers the report as well with “They were told he could kill”.

In the Times, it’s “Zelensky takes war to Putin” as it covers Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk. The Financial Times has “India telecoms tycoon says swoop on Drahi’s BT stake shows faith in Britain”, looking at Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal’s bid to buy a stake in BT Group. And in the Express, the headline is “‘Get a grip and fast!’ Labour is doing nothing to stop the boats” as it covers criticism of the new government.

Today in Focus

Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

Once-abandoned alleyways are being given a new lease of life in Manchester, reports Hannah Al-Othman, as neighbours come together to create vibrant ginnel gardens full of beautiful plants and community spirit. Fiona Mitchell and neighbour Jackie Austin (pictured above) gave their Levenshulme passage a makeover during lockdown. It now hosts an abundance of flowers, herbs, and even a communal barbecue. Neighbours have also chipped into Yasmine El-Gabry’s Moss Side street, where an alleyway once home to drugs and knives is now a thriving garden, attracting much biodiversity. Says Mitchell of the Levenshulme ginnel: “Every builder or workman that comes here says: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’”

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Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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