EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region’s Post

This week is Norway’s 🇳🇴 all-week-long political event Arendalsuka, where there will be considerable debate about building a new rail track to decarbonise regional travel (est €10 billion investment) or to heavily invest in alternative fuels and electric aviation. The economics and common sense is showing practically and from a speed of travel perspective flight would be best in this particular scenario but this will be debated today. I look forward to hearing the discourse and outcomes of this milestones debate. #polticaldebate #aviation #rail #decarbonisedfuels #norway

#Newsletter: This week offers extremes. Be it a congress that the press called a 'spy nest,' new-thinking tourism, a fishery industry calling for young people, ice-free #Arctic sea lanes, or new border cooperation - all this and more in this week's newsletter.

The Arctic Business Alliance (ABA) is a network alliance consisting of 13 companies from Greenland, Faroe Islands, and Denmark. You may subscribe to ABA's newsletter in the link below 👇 and get the latest arctic news.

📢 Open Call for Norwegian Clusters: Join us for a Study Visit to Poland! 🤝 The aim of this study visit is to foster collaboration between Norwegian and Polish clusters. We'll delve into the following key topics: 👩💻 Environmentally Friendly Technologies: For example: - Enhanced waste management - Energy efficiency measures - Reduced atmospheric emissions - Streamlined materials management 🌊 Innovation in Marine or Inland Waters: For example: - Combatting water pollution - Advancing solutions for responsible water resource management - Promoting efficient use of coastal areas For more information and to submit your application, click the link below ⤵ Polish Agency for Enterprise Development

🕸 Connecting Europe Days 2024 are around the corner, and we will be there! 🗝 Highlights: - Launch of the New European Transport Corridors: The trans-European transport network (TEN-T) will be expanded into nine new corridors, including the #WesternBalkans -Eastern Mediterranean Corridor. - Climate Resilience: Learn about the challenges climate change poses to our transport infrastructure and explore potential adaptation measures. This will also be one of the main topics at the Transport Community and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Green Transport Summit in Sarajevo in June of this year. - Connectivity and Preparedness: This section focuses on the importance of the EU's connectivity with neighbours, such as the #WesternBalkans, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine, and its preparedness for external threats, including innovative initiatives like the "Solidarity" and Green Lanes. - Future of Funding and Financing: Discuss the evolving landscape of funding and financing opportunities for transport infrastructure projects, which is critical for realising the ambitious goals of the EU Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. More: https://lnkd.in/d6r836B6

'Walk the talk' 🚶♀️ 📣 As an embassy we not only talk about #sustainability but we also work on becoming a more sustainable organization ourselves. Personally I think the discussions with my colleagues where most interesting. An example is the office temperature: We would like to lower the temperature to save energy, but at the same time we know that we all have our individual preferences which we need to respect. How to find the perfect temperature? Take Padding Rosa Peek

This is important. The plan guides the funding calls for the remainder of the Horizon Europe programme. Our future projects need to deliver outputs and outcomes that contribute to these European ambitions.

A timely Spanish lesson Valencia is the European Green Capital 2024. The story of how it earned that title started 67 years ago. After a catastrophic flood, the Spanish government rerouted the river Turia that originally ran through the city, around it, leaving a dry riverbed behind. That was a great idea, but what they wanted to do afterwards wasn’t;  that was to run a six lane highway along the route to connect the airport and the port. Local people campaigned vigorously against it.  They wanted a park and green space. And they won. The Jardin del Turia is now a stunning 9 km long park, attracting over 7 million visitors per year.  It has become a defining feature of what makes the city such a great place to live (and visit) which we were lucky enough to do last weekend. 97% of Valencia’s inhabitants live within 300 metres of green urban areas. As the starting gun has been fired on the UK General Election, Valencia is a timely reminder that politicians of all parties are, despite how some might behave, here to serve the will of the people. If we care about having healthy cities to live, work and bring our kids up in, then we have to vote for those people we believe care most too. That was my take away from Valencia.  What other cities can we learn from? #SustainableFuture #GeneralElection24 #UseYourVote 🌍 If you want to visit Valencia.  It really is a fantastic place.  I have some great recommendations I am happy to share.  🌎 I haven’t yet seen a useful infographic or table comparing the environmental policies of all UK political parties, please share if you have.

𝔼𝕦𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕪𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕚𝕥 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟜 This week, we attended the Mayors Summit in Strasbourg. The Mayor Summit is a unique conference organised by Eurocities to connect more than eighty mayors and vice mayors with the new #EuropeanParliament. 🤝 During the summit, mayors from various cities in Europe had the opportunity to exchange their views and insights during the roundtable discussions with MEPs. Ten different themes were discussed, such as local democracy, housing, mobility, and budget & cohesion policy. 📌 𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲? The EU’s ambitions cannot be realised without the direct involvement of cities and regions. A direct partnership between the local and European levels is essential for the future! 👩🔧𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭: On Tuesday, there was also time to visit Energy Hub R-Pas - a cutting-edge, low-carbon heating network in the Port of Strasbourg.  It was very impressive to see how major industrial players, such as the paper industry (Blue Paper) and steel mills (SteelWorks), are working hard to reduce their CO2 footprint and manage to connect the heat they produce to large urban districts of Strasbourg. And all of this is happening cross-border! A big thank you to our great hosts, Eurocities and Ville et Eurométropole de Strasbourg! #EUMayorsSummit #ifmayorsruledtheworld #TeamLocalEurope #LocalFutureEU

This year's Maritime Decarbonisation Conference Asia is set to provide actionable insights for #decarbonisation. Running across two days the event will cover everything from regulations to equipment and fuel options to assist decarbonisation strategies. April 3 & 4 2024 #Singapore #maritime