9-11 May 2012, more than 65 participants from UBC member cities were gathered to discuss sustainable urban planning and launch a new training and support initiative in Halmstad, Sweden.

Working groups provided valuable inputs for the future development in Halmstad. Tullkammerkajen and Larsfrid – two central areas in the city of Halmstad – were analysed, before the participants presented their ideas and solutions for sustainable urban planning for local experts and politicians in the town hall of Halmstad. For presentations and photos from the seminar can be found here.

The Baltic Sea Region Covenant Club was launched after a working group sessions where stakeholders discussed the most urgent issues in relation to the Covenant of Mayors 2020 targets of reducing CO₂ Emission in European cities with at least 20pct. The objective of the Covenant Club is to support cities with expertise and capacity building to make them reach the ambitious goals for 2020 and the participants provided a good point of departure. The club will be open to all relevant stakeholders and events and trainings will be held throughout the year in collaboration with UBC meetings.

The meeting was jointly organized by the Urban Planning commission, the Energy commission, the Transport commission and the Environmental commission.