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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.

On 1–3 October 2025, over 70 urban leaders, climate experts, and changemakers gathered in Malmö, Sweden, for the annual Union of the Baltic Cities Sustainable Cities Commission meeting. Under the theme “Creating Climate-Proof and Nature-Positive Cities Together,” the event became a powerful platform for cities across the Baltic Sea Region to collaborate on urgent environmental challenges – and the solutions needed to meet them.

Tackling organic micropollutants amidst new EU regulations The context of this challenge was introduced at the webinar by Mikhail Durkin, Executive Secretary at the Coalition Clean Baltic, presenting the impact of micropollutants on aquatic environment and the European regulatory advances.

Our Sustainable Cities Commission co-created the spring 2024 edition of the Baltic Cities Bulletin under the topic "Towards green and just transition"!

EMPEREST 1st international workshop in Tartu hosted over 80 participants discussing the measures at source and treatment steps for PFAS to ensure good aquatic environment and water quality.

The EMPEREST project started the process of identifying potential PFAS risks on the municipal level with a series of workshops for the project consortium and invited local experts in Riga.

The kick-off meeting of the project EMPEREST, led by the UBC SCC, was hosted in the city of Turku on 6-8 February 2023. Learn more about the starting project addressing micropollutants!

Highlights from the UBC TALKS about the Cities Mission: how UBC members prepare to act, and where to find available support.

Last week, the list of 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 was announced, and 12 of them are members of the Union of the Baltic Cities!

Interreg Baltic Sea Region launched the new programme to shape the future of the Baltic Sea Region. In 2021–2027, transnational cooperation is particularly targeted at cities in the region – and we take a moment to recognize active project cooperation by UBC member cities!

Over 3 years of implementation, BSR WATER platform provided significant input into the regional policies. The variety of produced results can also be used by different regional stakeholders, including practitioners in the water sector.

To address this issue, on 16 February 2021 we organized a workshop "Pathways to targeted PFAS removal – from policy to technology" to discuss the approaches to PFAS removal, joined by 50 participants. The workshop was held by the seed project EMPEREST that focuses on the current situation and viable solutions regarding sources and pathways of PFAS in the Baltic Sea region.