Dear UBC colleagues,
From the heart of the winter we send You our first Bulletin of the year 2021!
We are happy to announce that in 2021 the Union of the Baltic Cities is celebrating its 30 years anniversary! There are many activities planned for the year in projects, webinars and conferences. Throughout this year we will be looking back at the results of a long and successful cooperation in the Baltic Sea region and planning the future together with our member cities.
The planning of the sustainable future has already begun. The development and co-creation of the UBC Sustainability Action Programme 2022–2030 went into the interactive working group phase last autumn. More than 20 UBC cities joined the working group activities and committed to oversee and partake in shaping the network’s sustainability plans for this decade. The working groups formed around eight identified core themes: Water, Mobility, Energy efficiency, Biodiversity, Climate change, Circular economy, Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental monitoring. It is really important for us to receive the signals, ideas and proposals on the relevant topics, needs and challenges important for our cities, as the cities’ interests and values form the fundament for the UBC work.
The work on the UBC Sustainability Action Programme will continue throughout 2021 and end up in a modern, highly ambitious and fresh Action Programme for all of us. The UBC Sustainability Action Programme 2022–2030 will be presented at the XVI UBC General Conference, which is planned to be in the end of October 2021 in St. Petersburg.
UBC also welcomes new member cities to our UBC network: the cities of Hamburg in Germany, Rokiškis in Lithuania and Valmiera in Latvia have joined UBC. The city of Haapsalu re-joined and we are happy to see a trend of increasing UBC memberships. City of Valmiera already provided for us an article about its sustainability activities in the spheres of climate-friendly mobility, waste management, water production and environmental education. We are happy to share member cities' and our experiences in upcoming events and activities in 2021.
Let's stay strong!
Björn Grönholm
Head of Secretariat
Union of the Baltic Cities – Sustainable Cities Commission