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First, Erik Tellgren, vice president of Växjö Energi AB, shared Växjö’s ambitious efforts to reach climate neutrality by 2030 and eventually, climate positivity. Located in the middle of Southern Sweden, Växjö is known for its wooden buildings as the city is surrounded by forest. Because of this, bioenergy makes up a large part of the city’s energy production and the company Växjö Energi itself is already completely fossil free.

The HUPMOBILE Minipilots Framework allows quick piloting of novel solutions in the urban space and acts as the enabler of experimental policy-making.

The the moderator of the event was Per-Arne Nilsson from the city of Malmö, the co-chair of the UBC Sustainable Cities Commission. He introduced the topic of circular economies and explained how the UBC SCC addresses resource efficiency in its activities. The introduction was followed by presentations from 3 cities.

During the disclosure period, the following cities had disclosed their environmental data and good practices to the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System: Aarhus (Denmark), Tallinn* (Estonia), Espoo (Finland), Turku (Finland), Helsinki (Finland), Porvoo (Finland), Kemi (Finland), Lahti (Finland), Rostock 

The CASCADE project brought together civil protection professionals and climate change adaptation experts to build urban resilience in cities and towns, as well as the overall macro–regional resilience. Among the nine partners of the CASCADE project, there were three UBC member cities (Turku, Liepaja, and Hamburg) and the Safe Cities Commission and the Sustainable Cities Commission involved.

At present, there are many processes and developments in the port area of Turku. The new joint ferry terminal building for shipping companies Viking Line and Tallink Silja is scheduled for opening at the end of 2025. Also, new mobility arrangements (transport connections to the passenger port, port field recreational area and redesigning Linnanniemi area) will be implemented. The adjacent Linnakaupunki residential area is being built.

Tools Currently, there are two tools available  - the interactive map of transport solutions in the Baltic Sea Region and Sustainability of Transport System- self-assessment tool. UBC cities are encouraged to test these tools to see how well they can address the local needs. Test the tools.  Reports 

NonHazCity Plastic Diet – Plastics and the Hidden Threat to your Health

The invited speakers provided us insights from their experiences from working with the CASCADE project, which aims to increase practical risk management capabilities of local authorities in the region. The webinar was moderated by Kaspars Vārpiņs, the chairman of UBC Safe Cities Commission.  

The city of Turku is one of the world’s leading climate cities, reaching the CDP Leadership A-list in 2019 and in 2020 and winning the European Covenant of Mayors Award for Best mid-sized Climate City in 2020. The main goal of Turku’s climate policy is a carbon neutral city area by 2029 and climate positive from there onwards and at the same time with mitigating climate change, Turku also prepares for the effects of climate change.

Turku is the first CIVITAS city in Finland and it has become an internationally noticed flagship city of sustainable solutions. To reach the aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2029, the transition to urban smart sustainable mobility is crucial – mobility in 2029 will consist primarily of walking, cycling, electric public transport and sharing of vehicles and citizens will look at mobility as a service.

The goal of the ‘6Aika: ILPO – Climate Positive Business Parks and Value Chains’ project is to help companies find new, lower-emission and carbon-binding solutions and co-operation models. One of the ways to achieve these goals is charting a climate path. The aim is to identify the emission sources and carbon sinks of the business hub, as well as means of reducing emissions.