UBC has recently reorganized their Commissions; the former 12 UBC commissions have been merged into seven Commissions according to new themes. The former UBC Commissions of Environment, Energy and Transport have been joined into one, the UBC Sustainable Cities Commission. The Sustainable Cities Commission and its secretariat will continue to be hosted by the city of Turku as the former EnvCom Secretariat.

The activities will be discussed more in details during the upcoming Sustainable Cities Commission meeting that will take place 3 - 4 June in Turku. The meeting will also focus on discussing and developing further the new UBC Sustainable Development Action Programme 2016-2020.

Furthermore the UBC Sustainable Cities Commission meeting will prepare and develop a common UBC project proposal on “Circular Economy in the BSR” as the current direction of the EU as well as national strategies in the Baltic Sea Region countries strongly highlight the potential of Green and Clean growth. The initial discussion on Circular economy started last 18 – 19 of March in Malmö, Sweden during the first back- to-back meeting at the “Meeting Point Urban Magma conference” and the Sustainable Cities Commission. The conference was organized by the Sustainable Business Hub, UBC Sustainable Cities Commission and the city of Malmö to discuss the potentials on circular economy, industrial symbiosis and clean tech business clusters.