VAXJO, Sweden: Ringed by forests in southern Sweden, the city of Vaxjo is thriving even as it cuts greenhouse gas emissions at rates more typical of economic crashes in recessions or wars.
It is a radical example of tackling climate change by cutting the use of fossil fuels, offering a glimpse of how the world could stay within warming limits which UN scientists say are needed to avoid significant environmental damage.
Vaxjo's power plant runs on biomass from timber.
In winter, snow ploughs clear bicycle paths before roads to discourage cars, and political parties all back a target of making the city fossil-fuel free by 2030 to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from oil, natural gas and coal.
Around the world, governments are struggling to meet their various pledges to cut emissions under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, amid unease about heat waves, droughts, and wildfires that have raged this summer from Greece to California.
Leading climate scientists are set to warn governments in October that global carbon emissions from energy use will have to plunge by up to seven percent a year to meet Paris´ toughest goals - unless they develop technologies to suck carbon from the air, according to a draft UN report obtained by Reuters.
Extreme falls are usually known only from World Wars, the 1930s Great Depression or in Russia, where emissions plunged 16 percent in the year after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Coal-dependent emerging economies led by China and India are all raising energy use to end poverty and developed countries are wary of sacrificing growth for the environment.
What works in a city in a rich, stable Nordic democracy is not an easy blueprint.
Still, isolated examples like Vaxjo, a city of 66,000 inhabitants where the twin-spired red medieval cathedral contrasts with ultra-modern wooden buildings, are intriguing for policymakers since it has cut emissions and continued to grow.
Bo Frank, president of the city council and an architect of the green shift, said his advice boiled down to: "Heavy, heavy tax increase on fossil energy and reduce the tax on all kinds of renewable energy."
Per capita, Vaxjo says carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by 58 percent from 1993-2016, to 1.9 tonnes from 4.5, while local gross domestic product (GDP) rose 32 percent from 1993-2014, according to the latest available figures.
The trajectory is uneven, but equates to an annual rate of emissions cuts of 3.7 percent with 1.33 percent growth.
By contrast, worldwide carbon emissions rose by two percent last year to a record high of almost five tonnes per capita, according to scientists who compile a Global Carbon Budget.
Vaxjo aims to eliminate carbon emissions from fossil fuels by 2030 - in homes, industry and transport including planes taking off from the local airport.
It says its accounting follows UN guidelines, treating the municipality as if it were a mini-country.
The city estimates that carbon dioxide from fossil fuels accounts for 65 percent of the municipality´s greenhouse gases.
Vaxjo has cut other gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, by 42 percent since 1993 but has not yet set deadlines for phasing them out.
Thanks to the early green start, Vaxjo's carbon cuts are far ahead of the timetable set by almost 200 nations in the Paris climate agreement to phase out net emissions of all greenhouse gases sometime from 2050-2100.
Sweden as a whole has also cut emissions while sustaining strong economic growth.
The country of 10 million tops international environmental rankings and imposes the world´s highest carbon tax, of up to 137 euros ($158.84) a tonne.
"The notion that a carbon tax is harmful for the economy in any country is a political notion. Not a factual notion," said Swedish Environment Minister Karolina Skog, of the Green Party.
The burning of biomass also emits carbon dioxide but can be made carbon neutral by planting new forests, as in Vaxjo, which absorb the gas to grow.
Almost no countries have forests covering two-thirds of the country like Sweden, but Skog noted that all nations have some form of renewable energy, such as solar or wind power.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says Sweden produces $11.13 of GDP for every kilo of carbon emissions, almost three times the average for rich nations of $3.91.
Skog cited companies like flat-pack furniture group IKEA, which aims to be "climate positive" by 2030, to show that strong environmental goals do not undermine profits but said "we have not yet completely decoupled our economy from carbon emissions".
The nation's greenhouse gas emissions fell 26 percent between 1990-2016, but the rate of decline has slowed in recent years; Rolf Lindahl of Greenpeace said Sweden was doing better than most but not enough in terms of phasing out fossil fuels.
Wildfires have made the environment a big issue in elections due on Sept. 9, with most parties pledging tougher action on climate change.