Climate-friendly smart cities: Baltic dialogue platform

In the EU, municipalities are increasingly developing “smart” solutions for urban infrastructures and their integration. Frequently, the vision of a “smart city” is portrayed as key for sustainable, climate-friendly municipalities. To implement this vision, it will be vital to involve different stakeholders and learn from each other.

Against this background, the project "Baltic Dialogue Platform on Smart Cities for Climate Protection" intends to foster European dialogue and learning on smart cities for climate mitigation. The focus will be on the infrastructure sectors mobility, energy and waste management and water and their integration. Besides this sectoral focus, the research project will address several issue areas, among them (1) governance (smart city strategies, processes, structures and actors), (2) monitoring and evaluation and (3) transfer of best practices. The research project comprises Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany, as well as forerunner and follower municipalities. Four dialogues will be organized, one in each country.The project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project-financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The EUKI competition for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

adelphi research is responsible for the overall coordination of the research project as well as for organizing the stakeholder dialogue in Germany. adelphi research will also contribute to practical guidelines and policy recommendations for cities, national governments and the EU.