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Agnieszka Ilola has been nominated the new Acting Head of the UBC SCC Secretariat from 19 October 2021. She has been working at the Commission as a project coordinator for over 15 years and involved in development and coordination of international projects.

While the EU’s policies over the years have led to significant progress in improving the environment, and in raising standards across the EU Member States, many environmental challenges still prevail. With more than 70% of the EU’s population currently living in urban areas, cities are critical to meeting the EU's environmental objectives and in helping the EU to become a more sustainable region.

CDP’s A List cities in 2021 take bold leadership on environmental action and transparency, despite the continued pressures of tackling the coronavirus pandemic on local and national economies and societies.

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.

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.

The European City Facility initiative allows cities to access the grant of €60,000 to develop an investment concept - an initial step towards a fully-fledged business and financial plan. The third call for applications will be open until 17 December 2021!

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 (Germany), Riga (Latvia)

Following Lahti (Finland) - this year's European Green Capital - in 2023 is the City of Tallinn (Estonia). Tallinn was awarded the title earlier this month with the European Commission especially highlighting Tallinn's initiatives reflecting the ambitions of the European Green Deal.

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.