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By connecting climate objectives with financial planning and decision-making, climate budgeting helps cities ensure that resources are directed towards actions that support emissions reductions and long-term sustainability goals. It also strengthens transparency and collaboration across municipal departments.

Every day, we hear more about the forever chemicals called PFAS in the media. The news often deal with novel research showing the harm PFAS can cause to human health. In medical research, reduced immune system, diminished response to vaccines especially in children, increased cancer risk and blood pressure, decreased fertility already have been connected to PFAS exposure – and the publication of the results often makes headlines.

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!

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.

Climate-4-CAST, launched in November 2023 and co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme, is led by a consortium of 10 partners from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland, and Sweden, with support from 14 Associated Organisations.

The path to a climate-neutral, circular and toxic-free future just gained momentum with the launch of ChemClimCircle-2 project. Representatives from 22 partner organizations gathered in Riga on 19-21 March to kick off this three-year initiative.

Our webinar series closed the year 2024 with the webinar about green public procurement on 26 November. This webinar brought together representatives of four BSR capitals: Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga, and Tallinn.

Risk management requires manifold activities across different sectors: to investigate and communicate the existing and upcoming risks, to locate a solution, and to impact the policy making.

Organised in early October 2024, the project meeting of Climate-4-CAST created a great exchange opportunity for different climate budgeting practices from cities in the Baltic Sea Region.

UBC TALKS webinar in March tackled a complex issue of PFAS: hazardous and extremely persistent substances, which are an emerging concern for cities. The webinar presented solutions developed in the EMPEREST project aiming at reducing the amount of PFAS and other organic micropollutants in the water management cycle.

Two new projects have begun in our Secretariat, where we look into achieving climate-neutrality: green mobility and climate budgeting process in the municipalities.