11/06/2025
🌧 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: One deadly flood and €1 billion in damages later, Copenhagen flipped its stormwater system upside down — turning streets into streams and parks into reservoirs.
𝐖𝐡𝐲?
Because climate change is not a future scenario here — it’s present tense. The 2011 cloudburst dropped 150mm of rain in under 2 hours, flooding hospitals, homes, and infrastructure. A quarter of sanitation workers fell ill. One lost his life.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞? A €2 billion Cloudburst Management Plan that’s reimagining how a city handles water:
🔹 Roads now guide water toward safe zones
🔹 Parks like Enghaveparken can store 22,000 m³ of excess rain
🔹 Stormwater tunnels keep rain separate from sewage — and the harbour clean enough to swim in
🔹 New “spongy” surfaces absorb, delay, and direct water, reshaping urban space
Funded mainly through a water bill levy, the plan is halfway through a 20-year rollout — and expected to save billions in avoided damages.
This is climate adaptation in action — technical, political, and deeply human. A real-time case study in how cities must evolve with the climate.
🚲 Curious to dive deeper? Join our new lecture on Climate Adaptation in Copenhagen — now live at Green Bike Tours.
👉 https://greenbiketours.org/copenhagen-lectures/
