Baltic Cities Environmental bulletin 1/2013

ENVIRONMENTAL www.ubc-environment.net

bulletin No 1, 2013

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Focus: Free publictransport in Tallinn

Innovative cycling initiatives in the Baltic Sea Region page 9 and 12

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EDITORIAL

Clean fuels for the future: Powering European transport to stay competitive

Transport is the largest oil consumer of all economic sectors in the EU - the road sector most of all. We know oil will most likely be more expensive to import in the future. So it makes sense to develop and promote innova ve and cleaner alterna ves.

It is also an obvious way to make Europe’s economy more re-source-effi cient. Fuels such as electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, biogas and liquid biofuels can help in the diversifi ca on of Europe’s dependency on one type of fuel and signifi cantly cut transport’s carbon emissions. Energy-effi cient technologies also off er EU companies a large commercial opportunity.

Alterna ve fuels already exist, and in many cases the technology is mature enough for market deployment. But there is s ll a gap between successful demonstra on projects and deployment in the real market, which the private sector does not yet bridge.

Their full-scale deployment has been held back by the high retail cost of such vehicles, low levels of consumer acceptance and a lack of infrastructure for recharging and refuelling.

Today, Europe’s network to supply electricity, hydrogen and natural gas for transport is simply not suffi cient to enable mar-ket take-up, which is why I am proposing a comprehensive long-term strategy for alterna ve fuels.

The idea is to provide a reliable legal environment to s mulate private investment in a new market. To create EU-wide condi- ons to boost customer acceptance, we need to set targets to

build the necessary infrastructure and make it compa ble eve-rywhere.

The largest barrier to accelera ng the build-up of future trans-port fuels is uncertain demands from manufacturers, investors and consumers. It is now me to give clear signals to all of them by crea ng condi ons to get these fuels and vehicles properly on the EU market. The projects from the Bal c Sea Region shown in this bulle n are thus crucial in order to show stakeholders, rang-ing from the vehicle manufacturers to consumers that the future of mobility does not depend on fossil fuels.

UBC member cities (as of May 2013)

Aalborg • Aarhus •Arendal • Bergen • Botkyrka • Chojnice • Cēsis • Elbląg • Elva • Espoo • Falun • Gargzdai • Gdańsk • Gdańsk • Gdynia• Greifswald • Guldborgsund • Gävle • Haapsalu • Halmstad • Helsinki • Jelgava • Jurmala • Jyväskylä • Jõgeva • Jõhvi • Jēkabpils• Kaliningrad • Kalmar • Karlskrona • Karlstad • Kaunas • Keila • Kemi • Kiel • Klaipėda • Kolding • Koszalin • Kotka • Kristiansand• Kristianstad • Krynica • Kuressaare • Kärdla • Køge • Lahti • Łeba • Liepāja • Linköping • Luleå • Lübeck • Maardu • Malbork• Malmö • Mariehamn • Międzyzdroje • Morska • Nacka • Narva • Norrtälje • Næstved • Oskarshamn • Paide • Palanga • Paldiski• Panevėžys • St Petersburg • Pori • Porvoo • Pruszcz • Pärnu • Rakvere • Reda • Riga • Robertsfors • Rostock • Siauliai • Sillamäe• Sopot • Sundsvall • Szczecin • Söderhamn • Słupsk • Tallinn • Tampere • Tartu • Tierp • Trelleborg • Tukums • Turku • Umeå • Ustka• Vaasa • Viljandi • Vilnius • Visby • Vordingborg • Västervik • Växjö • Võru • Wismar • Örebro

Mr Siim KallasEuropean Commissioner for Transport & Vice-president for the European Commission

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20-21 Clean Water and Energy Effi ciency

UBC Energy Commission

2 Clean fuels for the future: powering European transport to stay competitive– Editorial by Siim Kallas, Vice president of the European Commission

4 Exploring avenues towards sustainable urban mobility solutions

5 UBC Joint meeting in Tallinn 10-12 April

7 Zero-fare public transport in Tallinn and beyond

8 Quest supports cities towards sustainable urban transport and mobility

10 CIVITAS DYN@MO promotes sustainable mobility in cities

11 Trolleybus - innovative mode of sustainable urban transport

14 Mobilizing commitment to address water resources management in Belarus

18 Triple helix actors join forces for Central Baltic maritime cluster

UBC EnvCom Member cities

Editorial informa onBal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/2013 is published by the Union of the Bal c Ci es Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat. Chief-Editor:Jeppe Mikel Jensen (fi [email protected]) Address: Union of the Bal c Ci es Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat, Bal c Sea House, Vanha Suurtori 7, FIN-20500 Turku, FINLAND, Tel: +358 2 262 3171, Fax: +358 2 262 3425 More informa on: www.ubc-environment.net ISSN 1455-0903 Cover photo: Per Lundberg Layout: Moira ÅkermanPrin ng house: Newprint Oy, in May 2013 on 100 % recycled paper.

ENVIRONMENT1/2013

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CONTENTS

6 Free public transport - Tallinn green initiative

9 Sustainable travel provides health, economic and environmental benefi ts in Halmstad

12 Innovative Bike Lanes in Örebro

13 Tartu is heading for developing sustainable city transport

15 Umeå: One year challenge - MAX500

16 Steps towards Sustainable Transport in Panevėžys

17 Shared mobility approaches Greifswald

19 Malmö demonstrates a sustainable biogas system

24 Active Passengers in Klaipeda - Sustainability Friends

25 Electric bicycles tested for employees and inhabitants in Växjö

26 Short News

New Baltic Cities Environmental Bulletin Format and New website for UBC Commission on Environment

22 Mutual interest and trust in the heart of cooperation

23 We act for the Baltic Sea - do you?


Exploring avenues towards sustainable urban mobility solutionsIn our current pursuits to improve the quality of life in our cities, urban planners often turn to the urban transport infrastructure for improvements of the life in the city. Urban planners are wise to take it into consideration since it is not unusual that the total sum of land dedicated to transport exceeds the quantity of land dedicated to buildings in modern cities. Again, Los Angeles is representing the worst-case scenario with more than 60 % of the urban land dedicated transport facilities such as road and parking. This space is primarily used up for motorized transport and therefore excludes social activities that have proven to be vital for a good urban life. At the same time private motorized transport also has a negative effect on our environment, social cohesion, the urban economy and the general health of urban citizens.

Text: Jeppe Mikel Jensen Photos: Jeppe Mikel Jensen

There are clear environmental, social and economic incen ves for increasing sustainability within the urban transport sector and is therefore also high on poli cal agendas in ci es, regions and na ons.

The effi cient and sustainable solu ons

There are several opportuni es to improve mobility for our fel-low urban ci zens and adhere to all three aspects of sustain-ability. It is therefore not a one-size-fi ts-all solu on to alleviate the current fossil fuel dependency, which is s ll the case in the majority of our ci es today. The entry points for more sustain-able urban mobility are o en a combina on of the fi ve overall measures shown below.

In brief: ►Environmental sustainable transport

requires a lowering of the CO2 emission for every kilometer travelled

►Social sustainable transport requires access to travel for all segments of society

►Economic sustainable transport requires economically viable infrastructure investments

Entry points for increasing sustainability within the transport sector.1. Implemen ng regulatory framework and mobility management for integrated service solu ons2. Linking transport and urban planning for shortened distances 3. Establishing eff ec ve public transport systems4. Expanding non-motorized transport infrastructure5. Facilita ng more effi cient vehicle and fuel technology

The Bal c Sea Region has a vast variety of sustainable mobility solu ons and UBC member-ci es are o en highlighted interna- onally for their innova ve and sustainable solu ons. Across

the region we see good examples of how sustain-able measures are adapted to suit the physical as well as the poli cal landscape in our ci es. This bulle n provides several good examples of how we can mix and match sustainable mobility measures for a more sustainable mobility. Since the start of 2013 one member-city has especially drawn in-terna onal a en on in their eff orts towards sus-tainable transport. Their measures are manifold; however, their specifi c focus is on establishing an eff ec ve public transport system. At the start of the year the city of Tallinn, Estonia, made all public transport free for its ci zens, a bold poli cal deci-sion that has a racted a lot of interest in the Bal c Sea Region and beyond, which is also highlighted in this bulle n.

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Text: Jeppe MIkel Jensen Photos: Jeppe Mikel Jensen and Eva Hjälmered

More informa on:Jeppe Mikel Jensen, Communica on and Network Manager Union of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment [email protected]

UBC Joint meeting in Tallinn 10-12 April - Saving energy and the environment through sustainable transport solutions

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. More than 100 stakeholders from 11 countries discussed this increasingly important topic.

The great variety of planning tradi on from the region was on display in Tallinn, where it was made clear that there is not on-ly one but several ways to succeed in planning for sustainable transport.

Tallinn opened the mee ng with a presenta on of the various posi ve aspects that has entailed in their free public transport ini a ve for Tallinn ci zens.

Deputy Mayor Taavi Aas and Deputy Mayor Arvo Sarapuu from Tallinn presented the fi nancial fi gures behind the ini a ve as well as the unforeseen benefi ts of le ng the ci zens of Tallinn use the public transport for free. Only three months a er imple-menta on, it is clear that this ini a ve will be followed closely in the future by the whole region and beyond.

UBC member ci es Gdynia, Ålborg and Halmstad also presented their sustainable transport measures in rela on to EU funded projects, including QUEST and CIVIT@S DYNAMO. The projects proved that there are several ways to u lize Euro-pean funding and projects to catalyse a transi on towards sustainable urban mobility. The Bal c Sea Region Covenant Club hosted a parallel discussion on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and their poten al synergies with the Covenant of Mayors’ Sustainable Energy Ac on Plans.

As the Bal c Sea is a common denominator for all UBC countries, also mari me transport was on the agenda. Experts from all over the region were dis-cussing policies aff ec ng the mari me industry and the sector’s contribu on to CO2 emissions at the fi nal

SNOOP (Shipping-Induced NOX and SOX Emissions – Opera onal Monitoring Network) Policy Forum.

The two intensive days provided the par cipants with various prac cal and theore cal aspects of sustainable transport from the region and food for thought for their daily ac vi es within their member ci es.

For agenda and presenta ons: www.ubc-environment.net

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Since January 1, 2013, Tallinn started providing free public transport (FPT) to all residents of the City.

Free public transport - Tallinn Green InitiativeText: Taavi Aas Photo: City of Tallinn

This major urban innova on has three dimensions for the city:

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More informa on:Mr Taavi Aas, Deputy Mayor of TallinnCity of Tallinn, [email protected]/freepublictransport

►Green – decreasing the car traffi c in the centre of the city

►Social – providing better mobility to those unemployed and with lower incomes

►Economical – stimulates the consumption of local goods and services

The fi rst results of FPT implementa on are most encouraging. According to a survey in January, 14% of the respondents and al-ready 21% in March claimed that they use more public transport compared to autumn 2012. At the same me traffi c at major crossroads has decreased by 15%.

Further research and a longer monitoring period is s ll required for in depth evalua on, but the ini al success of FPT in Tallinn is evident.

Regardless of the strong approval by a local referendum in March 2012, the shi to FPT met strong opposi on in the City Council even in the autumn 2012. However, a er a successful implementa on of FPT a wide poli cal consensus emerged in the Council and not a single party opposes FPT anymore.

European Network of Free Public Transport

In order to raise the FPT profi le and awareness at the European level, Tallinn is ini a ng The European Network of Free Public Transport together with Aubagne (FR) and Hasselt (BE). The objec ves of the network are to facilitate a comprehensive FPT research, an exchange of the best prac ces and an improved recogni on of FPT as eff ec ve measure for achieving European sustainable development goals.

To learn from global experience and exper se in FPT, Tallinn established contacts with the City of Chengdu in China with a popula on over 14 million. The ini al results of the FPT test in Chengdu, which started in October 2012, are promising and may also help to bring FPT within the radars of bigger and smaller European ci es.

Tallinn enjoyed the enthusias c support of the UBC for the Eu-ropean Green Capital idea in 2006. We are grateful to the UBC Transport and Environment commissions for also ge ng closely involved in the innova ve FPT issues.

On August 22, 2013 Tallinn hosts the interna onal FPT conference. The EU Transport Commissioner, Mr Siim Kallas, is expected to make a keynote speech. For more informa on about FPT in Tallinn please visit www.tallinn.ee/freepublictransport

For the city budget the annual extra cost of 12 million Euros is mostly covered by the increase in the number of taxpayers. FPT is for many a strong mo va on to register their place of living in Tallinn. Since the beginning of 2012 un l April 2013, the reg-istered number of the popula on increased by 9000. It is es -mated that every 1000 residents give approx. 1 million Euros of personal income tax to the municipal coff ers annually.


Zero-fare public transport in Tallinn and beyondCities worldwide are looking for new innovative transport systems, policies and technologies designed to improve mobility and the City of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, has recently introduces a zero-fare public transport (ZFPT) - also known as free public transport - in an effort to improve accessibility and mobility for its residents. Since January 1 2013, all Tallinn residents can use public transport services operated by city-run operators without having to pay for their ride. This makes Tallinn, with approximately 420,000 residents, the fi rst European capital and the largest city in the world so far that offers ZFPT services to all of its inhabitants.

Text: Dr. Oded Cats Photo: Eva Hjälmered/UBC EnCom

While previous implementa ons of ZFPT shed some light on the an cipated impacts of such a policy measure, there is a lack of analysis which limits its validity. A team of researchers from the Royal Ins tute of Technology KTH (Stockholm, Sweden) - Prof. Jonas Eliasson, Dr. Yusak Susilo and the author - was appointed by the City of Tallinn to conduct a careful analysis and to evalu-ate ZFPT.

The case of Tallinn is a full-scale experiment that provides a unique opportunity to empirically evaluate economic, social, mobility and level-of-service aspects

Various key performance indicators concerning transport perfor-mance and travel pa erns are currently analyzed.

Valuable inputs for the public debate on Zero Fare Public Transport

The accumulated experience from Tallinn would be instrumental in suppor ng the public debate concerned with the ZFPT policy. It should be emphasized that ci es vary considerably in many respects which are expected to infl uence the ul mate im-pact of ZFPT. This is true even among ci es within the Bal c Sea Region. Ci es within this region face diff erent chal-lenges and opportuni es in their eff orts to develop more a rac ve and effi cient public transport systems. Moreo-ver, subsidy levels vary con-

siderably among ci es, with most ci es including Oslo, Stock-holm, Copenhagen, Malmö, Aarhus and Turku having a subsidy level between 30-60%. In Tallinn, ZFPT was the fi nal stage in a se-quence of steps aimed to make public transport in Tallinn more a rac ve and aff ordable. The exis ng share of ckets revenues in fi nancing system opera on costs, the cost of alterna ve travel modes - in par cular, the private car – and the current fare level and the sensi vity to varia ons in it, are among the most impor-tant factors infl uencing the prospect of introducing ZFPT.

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More informa on:Dr. Oded CatsRoyal Ins tute of Technology KTHStockholm, [email protected]


Many European cities are facing challenges when it comes to setting up and implementing truly sustainable mobility policies and measures. The aim of QUEST is to support cities in making real progress towards more sustainable urban transport systems and help them to fi nd solutions to achieve excellence in sustainable mobility planning.

Quest supports cities towards sustainable urban transport and mobilityText: Maija Rusanen Photo: Maija Rusanen

Energy savings, a more sustainable lifestyle and a be er quality of life are becoming in-creasingly important for EU ci es and local authori es. Transport can make a big contri-bu on to meet these goals and to ensure the a rac veness of our ci es as places worth living in - today and tomorrow. The QUEST project (2011-2013) has developed a Quality Management tool to help small and medium sized ci es to set up and further develop their sustainable mobility policies with the assis-tance of an external expert - the QUEST audi-tor.

QUEST is not a tool box with ready-to-use sustainable mobility solu ons, nor is it a tradi- onal transport engineering tool. Stakeholder

involvement is at the core of the QUEST tool. It aims at crea ng an understanding of the common problems among local stakeholders, and to facilitate the development of viable policy ac ons and improvements to internal processes in ci es that can be imple-mented. QUEST helps ci es to iden fy what measures are fea-sible and eff ec ve for achieving energy savings in transport. It helps ci es to make the right choices.

QUEST is ready to off er exper se to help your city!

During the QUEST project nearly 50 ci es, with diff erent levels of experience and contexts, from 14 European countries went through the QUEST process, demonstra ng that there is a high level of demand for advice on sustainable urban mobility plan-ning. The external QUEST auditor facilitated the process and helped ci es to view the work from diff erent points of view and to fi nd blank and weak spots in their own planning and policy prac ces. Each city going through the QUEST process receives a tailor-made Ac on Plan indica ng the steps they should take next and a QUEST cer fi cate which recognises their eff orts in sustainable urban mobility planning.

More informa on:Maija Rusanen, Project CoordinatorUnion of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment [email protected]

The QUEST network seeks to expand and is therefore looking for new ci es and auditors. If your city is interested in joining the QUEST family, please contact the project team. QUEST believes that every city has the poten al to make progress towards sus-tainable mobility!

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Text: Marianne Olovson Photo: Jesper Petersson

Sustainable travel provides health, economic and environmental benefi ts in HalmstadThe Municipality of Halmstad asked itself a question: what use do great cycle paths and an excellent public transport have if people do not discover their benefi ts? The answer was an investment to encourage people to cycle or use public transport instead of taking their car.

A new organiza on called Sustainable Travel was introduced with several ac vi es already underway in order to change the mobility behaviour of the ci zens of Halmstad. Three of the projects are ‘Dialogues with households’, ‘Cycling for health’ and ‘Winter cyclists’. These all build on personal contact with the par cipants, providing advice, tes ng of ac vi es and some fringe benefi ts.

Dialogues with households

In autumn 2012 commuters on three of Halmstad’s public trans-port routes were given personal advice over the phone. In these conversa ons they described their daily travel requirements and in return received advice on alterna ves to taking their car, such as bus routes and cycle paths.

Cycling for health

Seventy commi ed car users with at least two kilometres to work have been off ered the chance to “cycle for health” from April to October 2013. They have agreed to cycle for 80 % of their trips, keep a travel journal and take part in a survey with a follow-up. In return, they will get a health check-up before and a er the project, a cycle helmet, rainwear and a cycle computer.

Cycling for health was also carried out in 2012, with surprisingly good results. Of the people who took part 60 % were in be er condi on a erwards and felt healthier. In total the Cycling for health par cipants cycled more than once around the world in-stead of taking their cars.

Winter cyclists

Many people in Halmstad put their bikes in storage for the win-ter. The municipality wants to change this unsustainable habit and break the barriers for cycling throughout the winter. In Janu-ary 2013, 70 cyclists unfamiliar to winter cycling were equipped with studded tyres, lamps and refl ec ve vests, with instruc ons to cycle at least three kilometres three mes a week. The munic-ipality had to ensure that pavements and cycle paths were kept as snow-free as possible. The combina on of proper equipment and a safe infrastructure were to show the great opportuni es to use the bicycle also in the winter.

The aim of all the Sustainable Travel projects is for people to leave their cars at home as much as possible. This reduces air pollu on and people’s carbon footprints, plus benefi ts the in-dividual with be er health and be er personal fi nances. The projects will be followed up and evaluated and hopefully lead to more ci zens of Halmstad discovering the benefi ts and pleas-ures of travelling in a more eco-friendly way.

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More informa on:Marianne Olovson, Mobility ManagerCity of Halmstad, [email protected]/hallbartresande

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CIVITAS DYN@MO promotes sustainable mobility in citiesText: Kirsi-Marja Lonkila Photo: Walter Eßer, ASEAG.

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A new project on sustainable mobility issues has started at the UBC Commission on Environment. CIVITAS DYN@MO (2012-2016) is an ambitious project with strategic importance to sustainable mobility planning in four dynamic European cities.

During the DYN@MO project, a Bal c Sea Region Competence Centre on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans will be established. The aim is to promote SUMP for ci es in the region and to sup-port them in the process. The competence centre will be led by the University of Gdansk and supported by the UBC Commis-sions on Environment and Transporta on and the City of Gdynia. The fi rst event will be aimed at Polish ci es, currently developing their new Public Transport Plans.

On the project Aachen (Germany), Gdynia (Poland), Koprivni-ca (Croa a) and Palma (Spain) demonstrate their mission to strengthen sustainable mobility. They will take new electric and hybrid vehicles into use, engage in interac on and collabora on with ci zens on the basis of the new media and implement inno-va ve transport services in an integrated way for ac ve ci zens of all ages.

The CIVITAS DYN@MO project is part of the CIVITAS ini a ve. The UBC Commission on Environment is responsible for the Dis-semina on and Learning on the project.

The core of the CIVITAS DYN@MO ac vi es in Gdynia, a UBC member city taking part in the project, will be to develop a new genera on of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) and aim at becoming a model case for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan-ning in Poland. To support the process, a range of community project studies for priority ac ons will be conducted and a mo-bility management concept will be applied to create pedestrian areas. A Mobility 2.0 internet pla orm will be set up to conduct consulta ons with the local community.

To increase the a rac veness of the beloved trolleybuses in Gdynia, trolleybus lines will be extended into areas without wired infrastructure. Ba ery hybrid trolleybuses will be con-verted and tested in a residen al area without public transport service. Furthermore, energy effi ciency of the system will be in-creased with innova ve supercapacitor technology.

Intelligent Transport Systems and ICT will be deployed in Gdynia e.g. to create a three-level transport model, se ng up an auto-ma c traffi c incident detec on system and dedicated bus lanes.

More informa on:Kirsi-Marja Lonkila, Project CoordinatorUnion of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment [email protected].

New hybrid bus in Aachen, Germany.


Text: Marcin Wolek Photo: T. Pytlak

Current European transport policies contribute to an increased interest in trolleybuses, as they aim to reduce transport related emissions by 60% by 2050, as stated in the EU White Paper on Transport. In many European ci es, climate goals and the desire to become independent of oil imports are the main reasons for the increased popularity of trolleybuses. Numerous technologi-cal innova ons further increase the a rac veness and incen- ves for choosing the trolleybus.

Electro-mobility and trolleybuses

There is quan ta ve evidence for the rediscovering of the trol-leybus but the energy effi ciency, environmental, opera onal and economic advantages are already common knowledge to the cit-ies that already operate them.

Trolleybus - innovative mode of sustainable urban transportThe Trolleybus is a mature solution for sustainable public transport, developed already in 1882. It is a mode of public transport between “classic” diesel buses and high capacity tramways. Trolleybuses operate in more than 300 cities around the world. Countries such as Russia, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Italy still have a high number of cities with operational trolleybus infrastructures.

More informa on: Mr. Marcin Wolek Ph.D, Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Transporta on MarketUniversity of Gdansk, [email protected]

A modern Solaris Trollino bus opera ng in the city of Gdynia, Morska-Estakada trolleybus

Ar culated trolleybus Solaris Ganz in Tallinn (Estonia) operat-ing in harsh weather condi ons, February 2007

The Bal c Sea Region has one of the biggest trolleybus systems in the world. St. Petersburg operates an extensive huge trolley-bus network with 823 vehicles. Among the UBC network there are six other trolleybus ci es, including Kaliningrad (RU), Tallinn (EE), Riga (LV), Vilnius and Kaunas (LT) and Gdynia (PL).

Trolleybus – pla orm for innova ons

One of the biggest advantages of the trolleybus is that it is in-dependent of one source of energy only (i.e. diesel). If powered by a renewable energy, the trolleybus is a real “zero-emission” vehicle. Recent developments in ba ery technology allow ex-tending trolleybus opera ons beyond the catenary. Such a test will be carried in Gdynia in the framework of CIVITAS DYN@MO project.

Other fi elds of innova ve solu ons include: improvement of ve-hicles (low-fl oor, higher capacity, modern design), improvement of energy effi ciency (storage, auxiliary engines, recupera on), and improvement of exploita on parameters (speed, frequency, reliability, accessibility).

In order to make trolleybuses even more popular among Euro-pean ci es there is a need for constant promo on and gaining social and poli cal acceptance. Higher ini al costs due to net-

work infrastructure might be overcome when a clear vision for sustainable public transport powered by fl exible electric energy is set up. Within the TROLLEY project, implemented under the Opera onal Program Central Europe, trolleybus ci es created a background for interna onal coopera on and exchange of expe-riences to strengthen the arguments for a Trolleybus infrastruc-ture further.


Text: Anna Åhlgren Photos: City of Örebro

Örebro is a city with a high number of cyclists. Every fourth trip in the municipality is made by bicycle. The proportion of cyclists in the inner city is even higher and can be compared to Copenhagen. Örebro is a city with a growing population and the goal of the City Council is to have a city more densely-populated. To meet the demands of the growing population and at the same time make the transport system more sustainable, Örebro constantly implementing measures to facilitate cycling in the city. Örebro has developed an innovative cycling network plan that focuses on four different layers to optimize the cycling network and to meet the needs of different target groups.

Örebro is the fi rst city in Sweden to invest in these types of high-quality cycling corridors (i.e. cycle lanes). An extensive and inno-va ve GIS-analysis is the basis for the network plan. The analysis consists of travel surveys and sta s cs presen ng the loca on of residents and workplaces. The result shows the paths with the most commuters.

The cycling corridors have a uniform design with special signage and orange road marking lines, which separate the cycle path from the pedestrian path. Taken together, the fi een corridors will connect the most important loca ons and provide fast and comfortable cycling, especially for commuters. Two of the main cycling corridors have already been completed and fi ve more are in the pipeline. Evalua ons show that the cyclists are pleased with these new corridors.

In addi on to the work to provide the city with a good cycling in-frastructure we are also working on other measures to increase the number of cyclists. A cycling strategy including several plans of ac on has been developed and will be adopted in 2013. This work is part of the EU-funded project CHAMP, which brings to-gether champion ci es in the fi eld of cycling.

Innovative Bike Lanes in Örebro

►15 main high-quality cycling corridors – mainly for commuters travelling at high speed.

►City network and regional routes – high availability and secure travelling between different parts of the city.

►Local network – designed for safe transfer to local destinations. Children and the elderly are important groups.

►Recreational routes – leisure cycling for the citizens and visitors.

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Reference material:Örebro cycling accountÖrebro cycling strategy Fact sheet cycling in Örebro

More informa on:Anna Åhlgren, Project ManagerCity of Örebro, [email protected]


Tartu is heading for developing sustainable urban transportText: Helle Tolmoff Photo: Mihkel Lendok

In recent years, Tartu has held a fi rm course on environment friendly and sustainable development. The city’s 30 social workers move from client to client by electric cars and city offi cials drive electric and also gas-powered cars. One of city’s goals is to raise the overall percentage of gas buses in the public transport signifi cantly.“In decisions about public transport, our main goals are environ-mental protec on and economical management,” says Raimond Tamm, Vice-Mayor of Tartu. “I’m glad that as a result of imple-men ng electric and gas cars, our city government has been tak-en as a model, and the number of electric and gas-powered cars in the city has grown constantly. We have developed an electric car charging network and thanks to the gas buses, one of the fi rst CNG sta ons in Estonia has also been based in Tartu.”

When Estonia bought 500 electric cars from Mitsubishi i-MiEV two years ago from the funds generated from the emission trad-ing scheme, the Ministry of Social Aff airs gave those for free use to municipal social workers. Nowadays, the 30 compact cars Tartu city government applied for are used by the city’s social workers.

Bal c Sea Programme support

Lately, Tartu has also led intensive interna onal coopera on for implemen ng biogas-powered buses in public transport. In 2009, our city joined the Bal c Biogas Bus project. This year, Tartu par cipates in its follow-up project ’More Biogas Buses’ funded by the Bal c Sea programme. For Tartu, the main result of the project will be the wider implementa on of biogas buses. Currently, there are fi ve gas-powered buses in the city. By 2017, when the next round of public transport procurement will take place, the plan is to increase this number to a minimum of 25 (half of the bus fl eet), fuelling them with biogas. Addi onally, a

biogas plant is planned for Tartu that would also help develop environmentally sustainable (public) transport. By current es -ma ons, the biogas plant should be ready by 2016 for provid-ing Tartu’s gas powered vehicle fl eet with an even more green transport solu on.

For the city offi cials of the department of communal services and the city offi ce, city government has bought 4 Nissan Leaf electric cars and this year, Tartu is going to buy 3 gas-powered Opel Zafi ras. Financially speaking, maintaining a gas-powered car is about 15% cheaper than a petrol-powered car, but its fuel consump on can be even 60% lower. The diff erence in ecologi-cal footprints is also signifi cant: the amount of CO2, CO, NOx and PM in its exhaust emissions is smaller by 20-80%.

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More informa on:Helle Tolmoff , Specialist of Informa on ServiceTartu City Government, EstoniaHelle.Tolmoff @raad.tartu.ee


More informa on:Pekka Salminen, Project ManagerUnion of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment Secretariat e-mail: [email protected]

Mobilizing commitment to address water resources management in Belarus”Joint actions for clean water” was the theme of the Water Management Policy Forum that was organized on March 27 2013 in Minsk, Belarus. This was the third public, bilingual forum organized by the international technical assistance project PRESTO (Project on Reduction of the Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea Today) led by the UBC Commission on Environment.

Previous forums were Environmental and Technological forums concentra ng on eutrophica on of water bodies and effi cient means to prevent it. The PRESTO project de-velops joint ac ons between the EU and Belarus to com-bat transna onal pollu on risk and eutrophica on of the Bal c Sea. It also supports the goals of the EU Strategy for the Bal c Sea Region, the Na onal strategy for sus-tainable development and Water strategy of the Republic of Belarus for the period to 2020. Moreover, the project helps Belarusian ci es in their a empt to reach the Bal c Marine Environment Protec on Commission (HELCOM) recommenda on on nutrient removal from their waste-waters.

crease the cost eff ec veness of our common ac ons to-wards be er water management and a be er state of the environment.” said Björn Grönholm, Head of Secretariat, UBC Commission on Environment.

“Much has been done recently in the fi eld of water re-sources management in Belarus but much more is ahead. We are ac vely working on the implementa on of the ob-jec ves of the Water Strategy for the period up to 2020” said Mr. Sergei V. Zavyalov, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protec on of the Republic of Belarus.

The Forum concluded with a panel discussion facilitated by Ma hias Barjenbruch from the Berlin Technical Univer-sity, leader of the capacity building part of PRESTO. In the fi nal panel discussion it was noted that in addi on to an adequate wastewater treatment infrastructure and water tariff s, training and exchange of experiences at diff erent levels as well as environmentally sustainable regulatory policies are necessary for a posi ve development of the water environment.

Experiencing innova ons and new coopera on perspec ves

Ac ve collabora on under the framework of PRESTO re-sulted in organising an addi onal public event, the Bela-rusian Country Forum at the world-leading Trade Fair and Congress for Water and Wastewater “Wasser Berlin Inter-na onal”, on March 23 2013 in Berlin (Germany). This bi-ennial exhibi on of innova ve technology in watersupply and treatment was a ended by some 28 000 visitors and showcased the cu ng-edge products of more than 660 exhibitors from 34 countries.

Using this opportunity, and with offi cial representa on from the Ministry of Housing and the Communal Services of the Republic of Belarus, PRESTO partners had a chance to develop coopera on possibili es and discuss future trends in water management.

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”It is impossible to solve the Bal c Sea’s challenges with-out a holis c approach to its en re basin. The EU cannot achieve a healthy status of the Bal c Sea alone and thus coopera on with Russia and Belarus are of great impor-tance” said Mikhail Durkin from HELCOM.

The Water Management Policy Forum was a ended by over 100 invited guests from Belarus and other Bal c Sea Region countries, including representa ves of Ministries, research organisa ons, funding ins -tu ons and NGO’s. The inten on of the Policy Forum in Minsk was to intensi-fy coopera on between EU member states and Belarus by bringing together experts across the water management sector. The Forum provided a pla orm for policy dialogue and promoted best prac ces in sustainable management of water resources.

The ming of the forum was apt, as the interna onal fi -nancing ins tu ons had signed contracts with the Be-larusian partners concerning investments in municipal wastewater treatment the previous day. A combina on of loan and grant money has been given to Brest, Grodno and Vitebsk water u li es for the moderniza on of their wastewater treatment plants. Investments for enhanced nutrient removal are realized within PURE and PRESTO projects in these plants during 2013 and 2014, and these investments have been planned so that they support the forthcoming large-scale reconstruc on projects.

“Sustainable water management is essen al for our fu-ture and requires interna onal coopera on. The year 2013 is offi cially recognized by the UN General Assembly as Interna onal Year of Water Coopera on. We hope to intensify the coopera on in the Bal c Sea region to in-

Text: Agnieszka Ilola


Umeå: MAX500 - A one year challengeBe Green Umeå is Umeå municipality’s project offi ce for hosting a variety of projects oriented towards sustainable development. In one of the projects called Green Citizens of Europe, Umeå municipality aims, together with several local, regional, national and international partners, to fi nd new solutions for sustainable travelling and living. The overall objective of the project is to demonstrate how environmental policy can be interpreted and implemented into concrete citizen-oriented actions, which motivate and help citizens to change their behaviour towards more sustainable lifestyles.

Decreasing the number of trips done by private vehicles

Traffi c pollu on is the main reason for the poor air quality in Umeå. By decreasing the number of cars emissions are reduced, air quality is improved and traffi c fl ows faster. Many car trips in the urban area are short, unnecessary and have o en only one or two people in the car.

To approach this problem Be Green Umeå has started a new ini- a ve. The inten on is for par cipants to reduce their car use.

Text: Johanna Lundgren Photo: City of Umeå

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More informa on:Johanna Lundgren, Communica on Offi cerBe Green Umeå, Swedene-mail: [email protected]

The cars involved are not to exceed 5000 kilometers (500 Swedish Miles) during one year.

Par cipa ng households will instead increase the share of trips by more sustainable transport alterna ves such as bus, bicycle, walking, carpooling and car sharing.

In this year’s edi on, seven people from Umeå and the surround-ing municipality started the challenge. Each person involved has a completely diff erent condi on and is therefore off ered a personalized method of travel in order to fi nd the best solu on for each individual. The brave seven have set about a real challenge as the average mileage for the group is 13420 kilometers a year, based on their es mated kilome-tres driven during 2012.

The group started the challenge Febru-ary 25, 2013 and hopefully all will reach the goal by February 25, 2014. About a month into the challenge, the par cipants received a free 30 day bus card and their mission is to evaluate bus travel in order to see how the bus works as an alterna ve for them.

In the upcoming months the par cipants will get further coaching and since sum-mer is arriving the par cipants will get their bikes serviced and all will get the

opportunity to try out an electrical bicycle. The project displays the sustainable alterna ves for the ci zens of Umeå in order to change their travel behaviour and improve their own and the general health of the city by choosing sustainable transport so-lu ons.


Steps towards Sustainable Transport in PanevėžysText: Rūta Taučikienė Photo: Rūta Taučikienė and City of Panevėžys.

Since May 2012 new ecological buses produced in Poland have been operating in the City of Panevėžys.

Panevėžys City Municipality and Panevėžys Bus Company start-ed a project en tled “Purchase of Ecological Public Transport in Panevėžys City (1st stage)”, which is included on the list of the state objec ves for the EU structural support for 2007-2013. The es mated cost of the project is over 6,8 million Litas (1.96m Euros), where the EU provides fi nancial support for 85 % of the total costs and Panevėžys Bus Company contribute with 15 %.

Showing the way with a new sustainable bus fl eet

The project aims to modernise public transport services in Panevėžys, improve the quality of services and decrease air pol-lu on. Ecological buses in Panevėžys City will make the level of passenger transport services similar to those in advanced EU countries. The last me Panevėžys Bus Company purchased new buses was in 1996. By implemen ng the project the Bus Com-pany has been renewed for the fi rst me in sixteen years. Cur-rently, six hybrid buses (Combined diesel and electric driven) are opera ng in the city of Panevėžys. The buses were produced by SOLIARIS Bus & Coach S.A.

These buses possess the highest ecological standard, Euro 5+EEV, and use about 20 – 25 % less fuel than the usual bus-es. European countries like Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, and Germany have such buses and Lithuania is the fi rst Eastern European country to implement this standard. According to the representa ve of Solaris Bus and Coach S.A. in Lithuania, Jonas Bagdonavičius, Panevėžys is the European city with the highest number of this par cular kind of bus. The pro-totype of the Polish bus was created only in 2008.

Recently, the fl eet of Panevėžys Bus Company consisted of six-ty-two vehicles. On a daily basis forty-seven buses operate in Panevėžys. The usual prac ce is that the company purchases twelve-year-old used buses with an average age of eighteen years for the fl eet . The emission of CO2 from old buses equals 1018 g/km, while hybrid ones have just 824, 5 g/km and thus provide a considerable decrease of CO2 on a daily basis.

One bus drives on average 5600 km in a month and emits 1086 kg less of CO2 than the old buses, which provides a decrease of approx. 13000 kg CO2 annually.

Nine addi onal new buses were purchased for the alloca ons received for selling pollu on permits. They are driven by com-pressed gas. With this new investment, twenty-fi ve buses from Panevėžys Bus Company’s total fl eet have been replaced with cleaner vehicles since 2007.

More informa on:Rūta Taučikienė, Head of Ecology DepartmentCity of Panevėžys, [email protected]

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Shared mobility approaches GreifswaldFrom the climate protection perspective in Greifswald, individual car traffi c is an issue as 31% of the city’s greenhouse gases derive from the transport sector. Furthermore, private cars consume a lot of public space, especially when not in use. The average German car is used not more than half an hour per day!

Text: Oliver Reif-Dietzel Photo: City of Greifswald

More informa on:Oliver Reif-Dietzel, Climate Protec on Offi cerpark management for specialists of the municipali es. City of Greifswald, Germanyreif-dietzel@greifswald.dewww.soziale-stadt-mobil-gemacht.de

17Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13

Hence, vehicles congest public streets, green spaces and inner courtyards, which might be alterna vely used as boulevards, park areas and playgrounds. Finally, individual car traffi c has become more and more expensive. Costs for fuels, insurance and maintenance have risen more than the average costs of living. In Mecklenburg-West Pomerania 24% of all households do not own a car. 55% of them state that it would be too costly.

Thus, innova ve shared mobility services like car and bike sharing might help to alleviate the aforemen oned problems and, if well in-tegrated, foster the whole eco-mobility. These quite new trans-port services have recently become a great success throughout Europe, however, it remains unclear whether even small ci es like Greifswald with its 60,000 inhabitants would provide a suf-fi cient market poten al.

Exploring the poten al for shared mobility op ons in smaller ci es

To answer the ques on about smaller ci es and to fi nd out more about the mobility needs, the municipality is currently running a project called “Soziale Stadt mobil gemacht”. This project is not only intended to survey the local market poten al but also to integrate the ci zens’ opinions towards the par cular realisa on of mobility services, the localisa on of vehicles and the linkage to other modes of transport. Hence, three open councils and workshops with external and regional experts have been carried out, a comprehensive opinion survey was conducted and an ac-companying project website was launched.

The results are encouraging: the survey has shown a signifi cant demand for both car and bike sharing.

37% of the par cipa ng households stated a general interest for car sharing. 69% of them expressed that they would not buy a (further) car, if car sharing was available, while 31% would re-duce the number of cars. Considering the me aspect, private car demand would be concentrated in the a ernoons, evenings and at weekends, while business demand would be concentrat-ed in the day me on weekdays – a good fi t.

When it comes to bike sharing the survey revealed that it would be mainly an op on for tourists and local business customers, as the private bike availability is very high.

While conduc ng the project a car sharing and a bike sharing provider have announced their market entrance in late 2013. Gained knowledge from the project will be included. So next me you are visi ng Greifswald, you may choose a shared and

eco-friendly vehicle to explore the city!

Project details

Project period: 12/2011 – 09/2013

Co-funding: Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development

Project partners: University and Hansea c City of Greifswald, Verkehrsbetrieb Greifswald, University of Greifswald, Quar ers-büro Fleischervorstadt, Wohnungsbau-Genossenscha Greif-swald, Wohnungsbau- und Verwaltungsgesellscha Greifswald, Technologiezentrum Vorpommern, City of Osnabrück, City of Lund


Triple helix actors join forces for Central Baltic maritime clusterThe SmartComp project aims at supporting smart, environmentally sustainable growth and co-operation of the Central Baltic Region marine cluster. The central project tool is a triple helix co-operation, which encourages maritime cluster businesses, the public sector and universities to work together. The project is managed by the UBC Commission on Environment and includes eight project partners in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

Text: Terhi Luukkainen Photo: Shutterstock.com/Nils Prause.

In the SmartComp project the diff erent actors cooperate in sev-eral ways. Member of the SmartComp Research Group and Pro-ject Researcher from Turku School of Economics, Eini Laaksonen, states that:

“Our fi rst SmartComp Research Report was published in Decem-ber 2012. The report highlighted the need for increased cooper-a on against common challenges amongst the mari me clusters in the Central Bal c region”

In the beginning of this year the research con nued with a survey focusing on the mari me cluster companies in Estonia, Finland and Latvia. The aim of this survey is to gain a company-level insight on the sector’s future developments. The study will con nue with case company interviews to further focus on the state of networking between these companies. “A er that, the research consor um is to take a look at the big picture of the mari me sector and analyse the business links and develop-ments in other strong mari me clusters, such as booming China and the ambi ously developing Russia”, Eini concludes.

The Bal c Sea is a common treasure

The work of the Research Group makes the founda on for the na onal and interna onal SmartComp Consulta on Days that are targeted for relevant mari me companies. During the Con-sulta on Days the companies can benefi t from the fi ndings of the research. Tallinn University and Tallinn University of Technol-ogy arranged the na onal Consulta on Day in Estonia in coop-era on with Junior Chamber Inter-na onal Estonia. “It became

clear that the SmartComp project and annual JCI Bal c Confer-ence have similar goals and target audiences”, highlighted Com-munica on Expert Esta Kaal from Tallinn University. “There are a lot of people, organisa ons and companies who really care about the future of our common treasure, the Bal c Sea. Among the key words from the presenta ons are e.g. sea protec on, sulphur EU direc ve and transporta on.”

SmartComp creates policy recommenda ons for suppor ng the region’s mari me clusters. This is where the public sector, the third part of triple helix coopera on, comes in. The policy development work is based on the combina on of studies of the current mari me policies in the Central Bal c Region and on the research carried out during the project. The SmartComp project also organises two policy development roundtables that generate opportuni es to engage in developing integrated ap-proaches to mari me policy in the region. A triple helix contact database will also be established to help regional networking between diff erent actors.

The next SmartComp Policy Development Roundtable is to be organised in Turku on 22nd of May.

I N V E S T I N G I N Y O U R F U T U R E

EUROPEAN UNIONEUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

More informa on:Terhi Luukkainen, Project CoordinatorUnion of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment [email protected]

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More informa on: Daniel Skog, Communica on Offi cerCity of Malmö, [email protected]

In Malmö every third trip is done on a bicycle. Also, the local railways and the forthcoming trams are experiencing increased business but still there is a need for sustainable solutions for buses and cars in the city and the region. While electric vehicles are foreseen to have a bright future in ci es such as Malmö, the biogas powered vehicles have a clear benefi t so far – their mileage is unrivalled. The small biogas pow-ered cars being purchased for the City of Malmö right now have an impressive capacity of 600 kilometers.

Locally produced vehicle fuel

Another beau ful feature of biogas is that we can produce it from our waste. Malmö is now introducing mandatory food waste recycling for all ci zens and businesses. This is of course a great resource for biogas produc on. In the region of Skåne we see biogas replacing fossil fuels in the vehicle sector as a great opportunity for reaching a fossil free energy mix. The region therefore intends to upgrade as much of the biogas produced as possible to a quality suitable for vehicle consump on.

In Malmö, 177 city buses have been gas powered since the 80’s. During the later years the share of biogas, replacing fossil natural gas, has increased and last year reached 62,7 %. In 2015 it will be 100% biogas.

Already today the dust carts, a large por on of the private taxi fl eet and the municipal vehicle fl eet are powered by CNG/bi-ogas. And the interest in private and corporate gas powered cars is increasing.

Text: Daniel Skog Photo: Christiaan Dirksen

The next step is to introduce 24-metre-long biogas hybrid city buses in Malmö. Several of the city bus lines in Malmö have reached their top capacity and we need to fi nd a public trans-port for a larger number of passengers. In the short term biogas hybrid buses will be the fi rst of their kind, and in the long term trams will also be included in the CNG powered fl eet. Biogas powered buses and cars not only almost eliminate the climate change net eff ect their fossil cousins have, but they also de-crease the emissions of NOx and par cles in the city air which is a very welcome relief.

The system of gathering food waste, producing biogas, upgrad-ing it to vehicle quality and not forge ng distribu ng the nutri- ous bio sludge back on farm land, is a remarkable achievement

Skåne is proud of and wants to share with the world. Through the BIOGASSYS project, the City of Malmö, together with its neighbouring ci es and actors on the biogas market, therefore exports this knowledge to the rest of Europe.

Malmö demonstrates a sustainable biogas system

20

BCB Environment 1/13- UBC Energy Commission

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Text and photos: Eva Hjälmered

News from the Energy Commission

Th e know-how of actions to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are the main objectives of the EU Climate-Energy Package, which are essential for improving energy ef-fi ciency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. In this respect, the strategic documents of the European Union emphasise the im-portance of the public authorities at all levels, particularly local authorities, and the role they have to play, as they are directly involved in the planning and implementation of management ac-tions to improve energy effi ciency. Th e need to acquire the knowledge from the representatives of local authorities and public sector workers, and to share information, experiences and best prac-tices on measures to improve energy effi ciency is needed due to the diff erent levels of advancement of individual EU countries and regions.

We hereby present the activities of two of the partners in the project: the French municipality of Cluses and the Swedish municipality of Oskarshamn.

Th e EU Climate and Energy Package are considered to be the key to an energy effi cient and low-carbon Europe. Th e three overall objectives have become generally known as 20-20-20 targets: a 20% cut in emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020, compared with 1990 levels; a 20% share of renewables; and a 20% cut in energy consumption. Th e UBC Energy Commission and the municipality of Oskarshamn are two of the participants in the project EEMTE (Energy Effi ciency in Municipality – Training and Exchange of Experience). Th e aim of the EEMTE project is to jointly develop and improve training instruments and tools for authorities and public administration staff . Th is project is a sub-project to the major project EnercitEE. EnercitEE seeks to implement the EU targets on energy effi ciency practically. Th e project and the sub-projects build upon experiences and existing networks.

Cluses and their education for festival volunteers

Cluses is located in France, Haute-Savoie, at the doors of the Alps. For 12 years the municipality has been organ-izing a festival of contemporary music in the city centre called “Musiques en Stock”. Each summer, more than 30,000 festival-goers come to attend many concerts scheduled over 4 days.

Th e Mayor, Jean-Claude Léger, has al-ways wanted to make culture accessible to all: “We started this festival in 2000 and it has always been free to people. We handle the budget of the event so that the festival-goers can gain new musical experiences and discover non-commercial French and foreign groups”. Th e municipality also launched in paral-lel a campaign to reduce its water and electricity consumption. Th e internal staff was trained on eco behaviour to limit their consumption at work. Th e city urban planning largely promotes renewable energy, energy effi cient build-ing and renovation. Cluses raises the awareness of its citizens via communica-tion support. Th erefore, organizing eco events are in the local policy continually.

3 years ago, Musiques en Stock became an eco-festival. 300 volunteers have been trained, as well as the municipal staff and subcontractors, to reduce the carbon footprint of the event. Volun-teers are educating people on festival

waste sorting and are dealing with send-ing waste to the good sectors .

Electricity consumption, including the two scenes, was measured in order to be reduced. It is the same for the water consumption on site. Free shuttles are available to festival late into the night, which reduces CO2 emissions and pre-vent accidents linked to alcohol. Con-sumption of soft drinks are available to those who car-share or car-pool, or use alternative transportation. Restaurants that are located on the site only use compostable dishes. Half of them off er local and/or organic food.

“Our focus was on all components of the event,” explains Bruno Giazzi, Festival Director. “We have halved the communication support through de-materialization (emails, Facebook). Th e entire textile merchandising is certifi ed organic and fair trade. We also greatly expanded the prevention of noise risks, STDs and drugs because it is an integral part of sustainable development. Our goal is to reduce our carbon footprint in each edition . Like all festivals we still have room for manoeuvre.”

A logo for the commitment of the festival was created: a “tree guitar” symbolizing eco-festival.

Th e national media are now looking closely at this festival in a province that has reduced its consumption of more than 3 % each year, who says what it

21BCB Environment 1/13 - UBC Energy Commission

load is still there when they get back. Th e sessions were not seen as something positive, rather as an extra chore on top of the busy schedule.

Th e educational management at Nova in Oskarshamn decided to rethink the structure and think of new ways to educate both politicians and civil servants, but on their conditions. Th e solution became web-tutorials, videos of maximum 15 minutes for each sub-ject that can be downloaded wherever or whenever, a sort of “grab-and-go”-style. Both Nova and the Linköping University have experience of e-learning and fl exible teaching.

6 tutorials were fi lmed: one general that is available both in Swedish and in English, and 4 theme specifi c tutorials. Björn Karlsson, professor at the Depart-ment of Management and Engineering at Linköping University was the tutor along with Patrik Th ollander, assistant professor. Th e fi lms were uploaded at the partner website and promoted via several networks, such as the Regional Counties network of energy and climate advisors, the regional EnercitEE partner Energy Agency of Southeast Sweden and to politicians in all municipalities in the region of Småland and Blekinge .

More information:Eva HjälmeredUBC Energy [email protected]

The UBC Energy Commission is part of the Union of Baltic Cities, for more information please visit: www.ubc.net.

does and does what it says in order to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, without reducing the quality of its programming and organization!

Oskarshamn and their tutori-als towards politicians and civil servants.

Oskarshamn aimed at having joint sem-inars for politicians and civil servants in order to raise the awareness of energy efficiency of buildings and of each other’s parts in making these actions. Th e common understanding of life-cycle costs, investments and pay-off and the know-how and experience was on the agenda. Th e Linköping University, with vast experience in energy systems and working with both industries and municipalities, was hired to plan and give the sessions. Th e fi rst session was planned and promoted. Th e focus on the fi rst session was:

“With increased energy prices and increased awareness about the ongoing climate change, it becomes all more important to fi nd measures that lead to sustainable energy systems in a sustain-able society as a whole. Th ere are many measures that both give economic prof-its and reduced climatic impact. But all measures do not become implemented, despite the fact that they are profi table. How does one go from potential pro-posals to implemented measures? What is the mystery with driving spirits? How do we create sustainable energy systems?”

Th e interest was lower than expected and therefore the fi rst session was post-poned. A new date was set and this was promoted. Th e interest was once again low and the comments from the politi-cians were that the topic is interesting and important, but it is very diffi cult to fi nd the time for a day-long session. Th e comments from the civil servants were also about the time. It is a very important topic, but if they take a day off from the core business, the work

Lessons learnt / Recommen-dations

When planning for the sessions and ar-ranging the web tutorials the following issues became noticeable:

• Top-down or bottom up

Who decided about the action? Has the issue been carried through and implemented throughout the organizat ion? Is there a common agenda?

• Managerial preferences

Are the activities mandatory or vol untary? Are the activities/issues on top of the agenda? Or maybe “a lot of talk, but no actions”.

• Flexibility

Th e message needs to be delivered/ available according to the audience. For us a “grab-and-go”-style was the answer.

• Resources

Time!! Will the civil servants have substitutes during the training?

A Grab-and-go online tutorial

22 Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13

Mutual interest and trust in the heart of cooperationText: Stella Aaltonen Photo: Environment Committee, St Petersburg

8 years of coopera on for air quality improvements

Co-opera on on air quality has increased knowledge and skills of personnel and improved methodologies and data quality on ambient air monitoring and modelling in St Petersburg. During the project the monitoring of 5 new pollutants (e.g. fi ne par -cles) has been started, the overall amount of analyses has in-creased from 32 to 94 and the data captured has improved from 70 % to 93 %. By following the Finnish examples in the opening of the environmental informa on to the public, local ambient air quality informa on has been made available on the infoeco.ru website and for the Finnish Meteorological Ins tute. A joint evalua on report on the air monitoring has been developed.

Mutual interests in hazardous wastes and environmental permi ng

The coopera on in rela on to hazardous waste was focused on two issues: on solvent treatment and recycling and treatment and recycling of the ba eries and accumulators. The measures undertaken over the last year enabled a systema c under-standing of the solvent treatment to be implemented and also increased the coopera on between St Petersburg and Finnish companies in the fi eld.

The environmental control project increased the mutual sharing of the prac cal measures in rela on to environmental control, preven on of viola ons and legisla on changes. The side visits

The longstanding Environmental cooperation between the city of St Petersburg and the Finnish Ministry of Environment has resulted in much advancement. The latest year of 20 years of cooperation has been focused not only on developing the ground for new openings but also on looking back and refl ecting on the outcomes of cooperation.

More informa onwww.infoeco.ru, www.stp-fi -envco.net/www.ubc-environment.net

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on the project increased further understanding of the current situa on and enabled a deeper discussion of the diffi cul es in rela on to the environmental control.

Environmental awareness raising ac vi es

The UBC Environment Commi ee has been involved in develop-ing the environmental awareness by raising ac vi es together with the city of the Commi ee for Nature Use, Environmental Protec on and Ecological Safety of the city of St. Petersburg over the past six years. The coopera on has resulted in several out-comes, one of the biggest being the offi cial status for the www.infoeco.ru environmental portal in the year 2011. The portal was jointly developed and is now serving as a good example of rais-ing awareness for diff erent target groups.

Over the years the diff erent projects have also created several games, tools, materials and training programmes which can also be used by all the members of the UBC. The outcomes of the last project, Bal c Sea Needs Ac ons, can be read in the follow-ing ar cle.

Joint seminars have increased the mutual understanding and lead to prac cal ac ons.

Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13 23Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13 23Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13 23

Text: Stella Aaltonen Graphics: Sari Sariola

We act for the Baltic Sea – do you?Baltic Sea Needs Actions – project (2012-2013) focused on creating usable, practical materials in Russian and English for teachers and educators. The materials focused on creating actions towards improving the state of the Baltic Sea. The city of St Petersburg together with the UBC Commission on Environment Secretariat welcomes everyone to use the materials and join efforts in acting for the Baltic Sea.

O y the O er mobile game

There was a need to create a mobile game which had a learn-ing goal, was fun to play, a rac ve and would be interes ng for 7-12 year olds. The idea behind the game is based on the water foot print, as it was discovered that the level of understanding of what water foot print means is very low at the moment.

The aim of O y the O er game is to travel from Turku to St Pe-tersburg using as li le water as possible. In the game O y the O er has 3000 litres of water for use. O y can trade his water for food items in order to keep up his energy. He saves his water supply by trying to eat food with a small water footprint.

Interviews on Youtube

Five expert interviews in Finland and fi ve interviews with famous people in Russia were created. They aim to raise the importance of personal ac on in order to improve the state of the sea from diff erent points of views. The interviews are available on You-Tube in English, Russian and Finnish, with a tag #WAFTBS you can

More informa on:Stella Aaltonen, Project ManagerUnion of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment [email protected] www.ubc-environment.net/index.php/main:bsnawww.infoeco.ru

see all of the videos as a playlist. Everyone is encouraged to cre-ate their own interviews and place them with the tag #WAFTBS on YouTube.

Bal c Sea Needs Ac ons

There was a need to create a presenta on that could be freely used by everyone. The presenta on is focused on younger tar-get groups. It has fi ve topics: vulnerability of the Bal c Sea, the use of the sea, most urgent problems, what is done to protect the sea and what you can do yourself. The interviews created are linked to the ppt-presenta on with symbols. Also, a role-play game based on the form of a courtroom was created for 13-16 year olds.


Text: Gintaras Neniskis Photo: City of Klaipeda

On a daily basis Klaipeda Passenger Transport moves up to 100 000 passengers from A to B. The passengers thus provide valuable knowledge about the daily proceedings in the public transport system. When entering the website, (the accumulated number of the site visits is 3 million – more than the Lithuanian popula on) it is possible to leave a message in the “Guest Book” and thereby provide direct informa on to the transport authori- es of Klaipeda. In the ”Guest Book” visitors can also see all the

comments and answers from other local u lity companies, and learn about other people’s concerns as well. The principle of an interac ve and open ques on and answer applica on creates a solid and open community of service providers and customers, which is a top priority in Klaipeda.

A wri en e-le er automa cally gets sent to “the wai ng room” on the web page. This discussion forum is operated with pre-modera on, which allows us to safeguard a respec ul and busi-ness-like environment in the “Guest Book”. The e-comments are given rapid and effi cient answers avoiding such wordings as “perhaps” and “maybe”. Though it takes a lot of me, it provides the “results of the clients’ daily audit”, in order to maintain qual-ity in the opera on of the public transport system.

Dozens of free-line telephone calls reach the city every day. The public par cipa on process also includes internet surveys on the website asking to evaluate changes in the transport sys-

Active Passengers in Klaipeda - Sustainability Friends

tem, as well as sharing opinions about the planned novel es or altera ons. Such surveys help to monitor the level of support ci zens give to ongoing and future projects. Passengers perceive that public transport works for them and their opinions are truly important to the mobility organizers. The analysis of the surveys and internet comments help to arrange the metables and bus stops in the most sustainable way.

Thanks to the “Guest Book”, good interconnec on tradi ons have been formed. There are lots of public transport fellows. Several acknowledgements and recommenda ons are being received through the “Guest Book” applica on. People ask for the promos to demonstrate them, which signals that the ci -zens clearly support this type of par cipatory improvement of the public transport services. Today, it is clear that the feed-back and the passengers – Company ‘interrela on’ are among the best tools to improve the quality of services and the sustainable mobility in Klaipeda.

Among the major goals of Public Institution Klaipeda Passenger Transport was to form a feed-back relationship with the fi nal recipients of our services – the passengers. It was essential to truly know how well the transport system functions and what can be improved. For this reason a fl exible feed-back internet communication system was established, which allowed problems to be solved.

More informa on: Gintaras Neniskis, DirectorKlaipeda Public TransportCity of Klaipeda, [email protected]


Ramzi Nammas will test riding on an electric bicycle for 3 weeks. The municipality of Växjö lent out 28 pedelecs to em-ployees and inhabitants from the municipality on March 22nd.

Text: Mats Persson and Camille Delepierre Photo: Mats Persson

Electric bicycles tested for employees and inhabitants in VäxjöWithin the EU South-Baltic project ELMOS the municipalities of Växjö and Karlskrona in Sweden, Rostock in Germany and Trabki Wielkie and Malbork in Poland are introducing electric mobility through the lending out of electric bicycles as well as the elaboration of electric mobility strategies. Let’s zoom on how the municipality of Växjö is reaching these goals.

2500 people will try an electric bicycle in the city of Växjö during 2013 and 2014!

People who live or work in Växjö who would explore alterna ve ways of their usual means of transporta on are off ered the op-portunity to borrow a pedelec (electric bicycle) for three weeks. The lending out of the 25 pedelecs happened on 22 March. About 2500 people will try a pedelec in 2013 and 2014. “A er the term of the loan we will evaluate how pedelecs was per-ceived, how much the travel pa ern has changed, possibili es to purchase an own pedelec etc.”, says Mats Persson – project leader on the Traffi c department in Växjö municipality.

Why pedelecs?

The reason for the municipality to lend out pedelecs is that if more people discover how fast, easy and convenient it is to travel with pedelecs in Växjö, most likely more will choose that mode of transporta on in the future. There are several advan-tages with a pedelec. The cost for charging the electric ba ery amounts to no more than 0.03 Euros per 10 kilometres. Also for the environment and health there are major advantages. Ac-cording to Greenpeace, the environmental impact of pedelecs is only a 1/60th of a regular car. [textbox] As you need to pedal to get help of the electric motor, both fi tness and fresh air are pro-vided in the bargain. However the diff erence between a regular bicycle and a pedelec is that you don´t arrive sweaty at work or mee ngs, the electric motor allows you to easily manage both inclines and headwinds, eff ortlessly.

A pedelec garage

A survey of 1000 commuters who regularly travels to and from Växjö sta on shows that a secure bike storage probably would increase the number of cyclists to and from the sta on area by more than 40%.

In order to s mulate the use of public transporta on combined with electric and conven onal bicycles a pedelec garage is being built at Växjö’s train sta on. It is expected to be in use i June 2013, it will hold 62 bicycles and be equipped with charging fa-cili es for pedelecs and storage cabinet for bicycle helmets.

5 electric mobility strategies

In order to create future condi ons for planning and develop-ment of electric mobility, an e-mobility strategy will be adopted in all 5 partner ci es of the ELMOS project. The strategy is ex-pected to be completed in the spring/fall of 2014.

Find more about the project on www.elmos-project.eu

More informa on:Mats Persson, Project ManagerCity of Växjö, [email protected]

26 Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13

New Baltic Cities Environmental Bulletin Format and New website for UBC Commission on Environment

The UBC and its commissions are changing gradually in or-der to meet the changing requirements from member ci es. It is therefore me also to change the outlook of the prod-ucts the Commission on Environment is providing to mem-ber ci es and project partners.

New UBC EnvCom Website

The website of the UBC Commission on Environment has in recent years been overloaded with informa on as a result of an expanding project por olio. This is a posi ve sign for the UBC and the Commission on Environment. However, it calls for a thorough update and a structure where all this informa on can be easily accessed for member ci es as well as other relevant stakeholders. The outlook and the struc-ture are therefore intended to be renewed in the summer of 2013 and as shown on, the design has already been dra ed.

New bulle n Format

In line with the new website, the Bal c Ci es Environmental Bulle n is also set to change in 2013. This edi on is there-fore the last one of its kind. In the name of the Commis-sion on Environment the prin ng will be minimized to save paper. Instead of having the current printed edi ons bian-nually, the format is focused on smaller, so -copy edi ons that will be summed up in one annual edi on once a year. A number of online edi ons will be made ready for download and a selected number of ar cles will be collected for thean-nual printed edi on.

The bulle n does not exist without the contribu ons from the UBC member-ci es. All member-ci es are therefore re-quested to con nue the fi ne support and contribu on of ar- cles. The UBC Commission on Environment is looking for-

ward to renew the outlook of both the website and bulle n and is always interested in hearing your ideas to improve our service for its member-ci es.

More informa on:Jeppe Mikel Jensen, Communica on and Network ManagerUnion of the Bal c Ci es Commission on Environment [email protected]

Short News

26

Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n 1/13 27s Environmental bulle n 1/13 27

UBC ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

SECRETARIAT

Union of the Bal c Ci es (UBC) is a network of 107 ci es from all ten Bal c Sea countries, with an overriding goal of contribu ng to the democra c, social, cultural and environmentally sustainable development in the Bal c Sea Region. UBC Commission on Environment (UBC EnvCom) is one of the 13 commissions of the UBC.

Prac cal work of the Commission is carried out by UBC Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat. Its services for the ci es include for example organising mee ngs and policy work, preparing documents and publica ons, ini a ng and running projects, and consul ng and training. The Secretariat carries out Bal c Ci es Sustainable Development Surveys biannually, publishes Bal c Ci es Environmental bulle n, and off ers Good Prac ce Database for local authori es at www.ubcwheel.eu.

The current staff of Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat consists of 16 professionals working full me for the UBC.

www.ubc-environment.net

Our address is:UBC Environment and Sustainable Development SecretariatBal c Sea HouseVanha Suurtori 7FIN -20500 Turku, Finland

Tel: +358 2 262 3172Fax: +358 2 262 3425

Contact us

Ouraims

Projects

PRESTO - PURE - CHAMP - CIVITAS DYNAMO - BaltCICA - Eltis+ - QUEST - NETCOM - SMARTCOMP... just to mention a few.

UBCWheel

www.ubcwheel.eu

UBC Good Prac ce Database (UBC Wheel) is a database full of prac ces that cover sustainable development

in Bal c Sea ci es including all topics from transport to health and from social aspects to economic instruments; all di-mensions of the Aalborg Commitments. At the moment, there are 500 cases in-serted in the database.

EnvCom,Turku

www.world-you-like.europa.eu

Business

Baltic Cities Environmental bulletin 1/2013