100 participants to discuss sustainable transport in UBC Joint Commission meeting in Tallinn 10-12 April 2013

Several topics were embraced and questioned at the Joint Commission meeting in Tallinn including, optimizing cycling, public transport and maritime under the overall theme of sustainable transport in the Baltic Sea Region.

The great variety of planning tradition from the region was on display in Tallinn, where it was made clear that there is not only on, but several, ways to succeed in planning for sustainable transport.
Tallinn opened the meeting with a presentation of the various positive aspects that has entailed their free public transport initiative for Tallinn citizens. Several presentations and discussion later, participants had received a thorough introduction to this bold political decision and its technical challenges and solutions. Tallinn si considered a frontrunner of free public transport in Europe and is therefore also one of the founding cities of European Network of Free Public Transport

The meeting participants are in front of Tallinns brand new bus which will be taken into use tomorrow.
They are going to visit the Sea Plane Harbour museum, Lennusadam

Deputy mayor Taavi Aas and Deputy Mayor Arvo Sarapuu presented the financial figures behind the initiative as well as the unforeseen benefits of letting the citizens of Tallinn use the public transport for free. Only three months after implementation, it is clear that this initiative will be followed closely in the future by the whole region and beyond. 

UBC member cities Gdynia, Ålborg and Halmstad also presented their sustainable transport measures in relation to EU funded projects including QUEST and CIVIT@S DYNAMO. The projects proved that there are several ways to go for more sustainable transport in our cities. As a last input the Baltic Sea Region Covenant Club hosted presentations and discussion on Sustainable Energy Action Plans and their potential synergies with Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.

As the Baltic Sea is a common denominator for all UBC countries also maritime transport was on the agenda with the SNOOP Policy Forum. Experts from all over the region were discussing policies affecting the maritime industry and the sector’s contribution to CO₂ emissions.

The two intensive days provided the participants with various practical and theoretical aspects of sustainable transport and food for thoughts for their daily activities within their member cities.

Networking Covenant of Mayors - The Baltic Sea Region Covenant Club video

A new video has been produced where several European Mayors express their endorsement to the European Covenant Clubs where cities that have signed up for the Covenant of Mayors can share and discuss their ideas in order to decrease their cities CO₂ emissions by 20pct in 2020.

UBC Commission on Environment hosts the Baltic Sea Region Covenant Club. The club consists of an interactive mailing list where questions can be raised and challenges discussed. The BSR Covenant Club also arranges a series of workshop where specific elements of the obligations within the Covenant of Mayors can be discussed in an open forum. Next event will take place in Tallinn on 12 April in relation to the Joint Commission Meeting, where the overall theme is Sustainable Transport.
You are welcome to join the BSR Covenant Club discussion list or contact UBC EnvCom for further information.

Working from home to save climate?

Last week, the first National Distance Work Day took place in Finland, resulting in 50 000 kg save in CO2 emissions. Furthermore, over 10 000 participants saved 8 200 hours of travelling time. More time to spend with their families and doing whatever they enjoy and keeps them energetic at work! Besides being seen as giving more freedom to the employees and thus increasing motivation to work, distance work also saves time, money and is helping to achieve climate goals.

From the point of view of slowing down climate change, the biggest benefit of working from home is the reduced need to travel. For most people, travelling to work is the main source of their transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Some 15 % of Finnish labour force is weekly working from home with the help of information technology, but the amount could well be bigger. For many workplaces, more flexibility in where and when the work is done would not affect the results. In Finland, some 1.6 million commutes are made by car every day, resulting in congestion peaks in the morning and afternoon.

This week we're celebrating the annual European Mobility Week. The campaign aims at familiarizing citizens with the use of public transport, cycling, walking and encouraging cities to promote these sustainable modes of transport. Besides fighting atmospheric pollution and noise, it's also a question of improving the quality of urban life.

Many cities in most of the Baltic Sea Region countries are campaigning for sustainable urban mobility. See on the European Mobility Week website what is happening in your home town!

Picture: Valonia. Campaigning in Turku on the national distance work day - No need to worry about the dress code when you're working from home!

Kirsi-Marja Lonkila
This post was also published in the CHAMP project blog.

The climate is changing - how to adapt in our region?

For years, the discussion about responding to climate change was strongly focused on mitigation, that is, how to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions and thus slow down the warming of the climate.

However, for some time it has been acknowledged that no matter what we do, we cannot stop climate change anymore. There will be changes in climate no matter what region we’re talking about, and we need to adapt to the quickly changing circumstances. The fact that the changes are also hard to predict doesn’t make the job easier. And while reaching the international climate agreement seems to be further and further away, the global greenhouse gas emissions will keep on increasing and the need for developing new options to adapt to climate change is even more pressing.

On different regions, the impacts of climate change will vary greatly. In the Baltic Sea Region, the most imminent impacts include changes in precipitation, flood patterns and rising sea level that all can affect the built environment as well as water availability and quality. What makes Baltic Sea Region vulnerable to the impacts of climate change is that most of the cities and population are concentrated on the coastal areas. BaltCICA project is working to find new, local and regional options to adapt to these changes. Work is being done to draft climate scenarios and assessing the possible adaptation options in cooperation with stakeholders.

In May, I attended a conference titled Coping with Climate Change. It was organised by the projects BaltCICA and MARE. There was a lot of discussion about adaptation from a practical and technical point of view. However, in my opinion the most interesting point was made by Professor Karen O'Brien, who stressed the need for changing our views about adaptation. Instead of seeing the challenge of adaptation as a merely technical problem, a “to do list”, values, beliefs and worldviews should also be considered in order to improve the so-called adaptive capacity, the ability to adapt to changing conditions.

The conference was part of a series organised by the BaltCICA project. The third and final conference will take place at the beginning of 2012, in Helsinki. The conference focuses on applied climate change adaptation, and cities and regions present their solutions and approaches for these challenges. The discussion continues!

Photo: Kirsi-Marja Lonkila. The conference host city Bergen, also known for it plentiful annual rainfall.

Kirsi-Marja Lonkila

Summer School: Climate change in cities and city regions – Time to adapt?

I know what I'll be doing next summer - attending the interesting Summer School '''Climate change in cities and city regions - Time to adapt?''', which will take place at HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU) as part of the BaltCICA project.

Climate change has become the overriding environmental issue of our time. All over the
world, coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to effects of climate change. The summer school will address the impact of climate change with the focus on the resulting responsibilities for the urban and rural areas at Elbe estuary. It consists of two modules, the first being a Metropolitan Adaptation Lab and the second a Scenario Workshop.

The summer school is an exciting opportunity for practitioners, students and young researchers of most diverse specializations and branches, ranging from urban and regional planning, environmental sciences, geography, social sciences, ecological sciences, technical engineers with interest in climate change and climate adaptation.

During the week the participants will attend seminars and experience the impacts of climate change in Hamburg and how the latest scientific knowledge is transferred into innovative adaptation measures. In line with that, the attendees will study many aspects of climate change and the role of planning in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Finally they will develop innovative solutions to adapt to a changing climate.

The Summer School will take place organized at the HafenCity University Hamburg from September 26th to 30th 2011 in Hamburg. How will you spend your summer?

See the agenda for the Summer School here and register here by May 31st!
Pictures: Stefanie Lange

Kirsi-Marja Lonkila