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Municipalities across the Baltic Sea Region are facing increasing climate‑related risks, while working under very different local conditions, capacities, and governance frameworks. To better support this work, the ClimaResponse project is developing a digital platform tailored to help municipalities implement more effective climate adaptation measures: participate in a short survey on climate adaptation capacity and preparedness!

On 14 January 2026, the Training Programme, organised by SUMPs for BSR project, officially launched with the first webinar of a five-module webinar-and-workshop series dedicated to Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP). The programme is organised by the SUMPs for BSR project, co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme.

The University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald has been nominated as Energy Municipality of the Year 2025. This makes Greifswald one of 12 selected municipalities nationwide!

In the upcoming policy package, the commission aims to establish a more systematic and ambitious approach to climate resilience and preparedness across the EU. The framework is expected to be adopted during the last quarter of 2026. As cities are at the forefront of climate change, witnessing the impact of climate change and working closely with adaptation and resilience, we encourage UBC member cities to participate in the open consultation.

The opening conference day felt less like a conclusion and more like a preview of what lies ahead for the Baltic Sea Region. From the outset, speakers made it clear that circularity is no longer a distant ambition but an active practice. Cities like Turku – the event host aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2029 – demonstrated how circular solutions are already being tested in real-life environments, spanning construction, food systems and water cycles.

The success of the competition was supported by an international jury of experts from science, politics, and practice who took on the challenging task of assessing policies that are each unique in scope, approach, and context. Among the Jury members, was our Head of Secretariat of the UBC Sustainable Cities Commission Agnieszka Ilola!

Neighbourhoods as living laboratories Halinen and Jyrkkälä are ordinary, lived-in suburbs where forests, courtyards and riverbanks are part of daily routines. Before choosing any pilot sites, Turku carried out ecological mapping and resident surveys to understand existing habitats, how people use them and where realistic opportunities for biodiversity improvements exist.

The conference “The Future of Water in the Changing World: Innovative solutions against PFAS and micropollutants” was organized by two sister projects, EMPEREST and APRIORA, marking the successful ending of EMPEREST, while APRIORA continues its work for another year. Both projects stem from EU legislation change, namely the revision of the directive regulating urban wastewater treatment.

The training brings together the expertise of the project partners, the Union of the Baltic Cities Sustainable Cities Commission (UBC SCC), the University of Gdańsk, the Institute of Baltic Studies, and UBC member cities of Turku, Gdynia, Cēsis, Greifswald, Panevėžys, and Gävle.

BSR Urban Mobility platform project has launched a survey to define the state of the art in sustainable urban mobility and logistics planning in the Baltic Sea region cities and regions. The survey is open until 31 January 2026. Access the survey here: Survey on sustainable urban mobility and logistics planning

The BlueActionBANOS project is officially setting sail to empower communities across the Baltic and North Sea (BANOS) region to restore their local marine and aquatic environments.