New Insights Into Consumption Patterns and Climate Footprint

New data sources provide sharper insights into citizens’ consumption and mobility, supporting targeted climate action, better urban planning, and data-driven business collaboration.

How can new types of data support Copenhagen’s green transition, urban development, and better services for citizens?

A recent collaboration between the Climate Unit, Copenhagen Solutions Lab, Bydatas, the Urban Insights Data Lab (UIDL), and several research and industry partners has explored exactly that question. The project set out to understand citizen consumption patterns in more detail—an essential component of Copenhagen’s climate strategy.

Today, the City already has rich datasets on electricity, water, and heating consumption. But gaining insight into everyday purchasing behaviour has been far more challenging. By gaining access to new data sources, including NETS payment data, mobility data, and updated socio-economic datasets, the project opens new opportunities to understand how Copenhageners consume and move—knowledge that can strengthen the city’s climate efforts and broader urban planning.
 

New Data Sources and Tools Provide a Broader Picture

NETS consumption data 

Through access to the NETS/Nexi Market Insights platform, the City has gained a much more detailed view of how citizens and visitors shop across postcode districts. The data includes shopping categories, spending trends over time, and distinctions between online and physical purchases, offering unique insights into consumption behaviour at neighbourhood level.

This provides a valuable supplement to traditional national surveys, which—based on just 2,200 households—are too coarse to reflect the needs of a city with 2.8 million households nationwide.

Neighbourhood Atlas updates 

Aalborg University’s Neighbourhood Atlas (Nabolagsatlas) has been expanded with new socio-economic indicators for emerging districts such as Ørestad, Nordhavn and Carlsbergbyen. This includes more granular insight into population development, housing movements, and demographic patterns—data previously unavailable for new city districts.

The tool also enables hypothesis testing, such as understanding moving patterns or the share of expatriates in Ørestad, and challenges assumptions with robust data. 

Telecom mobility data 

New mobility data from 3Insights offers deeper insight into how residents and visitors move within and across districts—where they travel, at what time of day, and how movement patterns differ between weekdays and weekends.

For example, mobility patterns in Ørestad show clear differences between weekday and weekend activity levels and provide valuable input for planning mobility, by-life initiatives, services and climate measures.

Social media data for local Communities 

A prototype tool developed by UIDL uses Facebook and Instagram data to identify local groups, activities, and interests—ranging from sustainability initiatives to community-driven events.

This helps the City better understand community dynamics and identify potential partners for green initiatives or behaviour-change programmes. 

Key Findings: Data Creates New Possibilities for Targeted Climate Action 

The project demonstrates that combining multiple data sources can significantly deepen the City’s understanding of both consumption and mobility patterns.

  • Payment data from NETS reveals which types of goods residents buy, how purchasing behaviour varies by district, and how consumption trends evolve week-to-week.
  • Telecom mobility data shows how residents use their neighbourhoods and the city, such as when Ørestad residents tend to leave or stay within their local area. 
  • Social media mapping highlights which local groups and communities are active, offering new entry points for engagement and behavioural initiatives.
  • Updated socio-economic data helps identify who lives in new districts, who moves, and where they go, dispelling common myths (e.g., that expatriates move away faster than Danes). 

Together, these insights can complement traditional national surveys and allow the City to target climate actions more precisely, while strengthening collaboration with citizens, businesses, and civil society.

Next Steps: Building a Stronger Data Foundation Across the City 

The UIDL report recommends that the City continues to strengthen its data ecosystem, focusing on: 

  1. Better coordination of data purchases and analysis across municipal departments, ensuring that multiple teams can benefit from the same datasets. 
  2. Establishing local data collectives together with private actors, to maximize shared value and reduce the cost of acquiring new types of data. 
  3. Continued work on understanding differences in consumption patterns across districts and demographic groups.
  4. New research collaborations, including upcoming projects with CBS and NETS, aimed at developing a more precise, data-driven CO₂ model of household consumption.

Looking Ahead

With these new insights, Copenhagen is better equipped to accelerate its green transition and develop a more sustainable and inclusive city.

Data will not replace traditional methods, but it can significantly enrich the City’s understanding of citizens’ behavior, ultimately enabling smarter decisions, stronger partnerships, and more effective climate actions.