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Oslo and São Paulo Win Bloomberg Award for Zero-Emission Transport Policies

Oslo & São Paulo Win 2025 Bloomberg Local Leaders Climate Award for Zero-Emission Transport Policies

The city of Oslo in Norway and the megacity of São Paulo in Brazil received international recognition on November 4, 2025, during the Local Leaders Climate Awards organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies in Rio de Janeiro. Both cities were celebrated in the “Clean, Reliable Transportation” category for implementing some of the most ambitious zero-emission transport policies on the planet. While Oslo was acknowledged for becoming a global pioneer in zero-emission heavy-duty transport, São Paulo earned the prize for the large-scale electrification of its urban bus fleet — one of the biggest programs of its kind in Latin America.

The ceremony took place during the COP30 Local Leaders Forum, just one week before the official start of the United Nations Climate Conference in Belém, Pará. The presence of Oslo’s Mayor Eirik Lae Solvik and high-level representatives from São Paulo highlighted the growing climate partnership between Norway and Brazil, two countries that, despite their geographic and economic differences, share a strong commitment to the energy transition.

Oslo’s winning initiative, titled “Pioneering city for Zero-emission heavy duty transport,” combines regulatory mandates, economic incentives, and infrastructure development to eliminate emissions from trucks, construction machinery, and other heavy vehicles operating within the city. Since 2019, Oslo has required that all new municipal contracts for transport services and construction sites be fulfilled exclusively with zero-emission vehicles.

The city eliminated tolls and congestion charges for electric trucks, introduced generous public procurement subsidies, and rapidly expanded a network of high-power charging stations capable of serving large vehicles. According to the city’s own data, by mid-2025 more than 70 % of new heavy-duty vehicles registered in the Oslo region were fully electric or hydrogen-powered, and the municipality achieved a 90 % reduction in direct emissions from its own logistics and construction activities compared to 2015 levels.

Mayor Eirik Lae Solvik, speaking at the award ceremony in Rio, emphasized the replicability of the model: “We want to show that zero-emission transport is not a future dream — it is happening today. With the right mix of carrots and sticks, any city can make the shift.” He also announced that Oslo is now sharing its technical standards and procurement templates with several Latin American cities, including São Paulo and Bogotá.

São Paulo, the largest city in the southern hemisphere with over 12 million inhabitants, presented its “Electrification of the São Paulo Bus Fleet — Municipal Program for Innovative Acquisition and Financing.” The program, launched in 2021 and accelerated under Mayor Ricardo Nunes, has already replaced more than 2,600 diesel buses with battery-electric models by November 2025, with a public commitment to reach 100 % electric buses on the municipal fleet by 2038. The city created an innovative financing mechanism that blends resources from the municipal budget, national development banks (BNDES), international climate funds (including the Green Climate Fund), and carbon-credit revenue generated by the avoided emissions. Private operators receive longer concession contracts and performance-based payments in exchange for faster fleet renewal.

The impact is already measurable: the electrified lines have reduced particulate matter emissions by up to 96 % and CO₂ emissions by approximately 120,000 tons per year, according to the São Paulo Secretariat of Green Environment and Climate. Passenger satisfaction has also increased thanks to quieter, smoother, and air-conditioned electric buses. The program has become a reference for other Brazilian state capitals and inspired the national “Combustível do Futuro” law currently under discussion in Congress.

The zero-emission transport achievements of Oslo and São Paulo stand out in a year when the Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards received more than 160 applications from 45 countries. The jury highlighted that both cities managed to combine scale, speed, and social inclusion in their policies — a rare combination in urban climate action.

Norway-Brazil Climate Connection Strengthens

The double victory also carries symbolic weight. Norway, through its International Climate and Forest Initiative and the Amazon Fund, is one of the largest international donors to Brazilian environmental policy. At the same time, Brazilian cities are increasingly looking to Norwegian expertise in electrification and circular economy solutions. The presence of the Norwegian Ambassador in Brazil, Odd Inge Kvalheim, at the award ceremony reinforced the message that bilateral cooperation is moving from rainforest protection to urban sustainability.

Other Brazilian winners in the 2025 edition included the states of Piauí (Power of Partnership category), the municipalities of Juiz de Fora (Energy Transition), Barcarena (Healthy Cities), Salvador (Sustainable Waste), and the host city Rio de Janeiro itself, which won in the “Safer Infrastructure” category for its Extreme Heat Response Protocol.

The recognition of zero-emission transport policies in both a Nordic capital of 700,000 inhabitants and a Latin American megacity of 22 million in the metropolitan area demonstrates that ambitious climate action is possible at any scale and income level when political will, innovative financing, and public-private collaboration align.

As the world prepares for COP30 in Belém, the Oslo and São Paulo success stories serve as powerful proof that cities remain the true laboratories of the global energy transition — and that zero-emission transport is no longer a niche experiment, but a mainstream solution ready for rapid replication.

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