Climate-4-CAST Enters Second Piloting Phase: Cities Shift from Planning to Implementation

Following the successful conclusion of its first pilot phase, the Climate-4-CAST project has now launched its second piloting period, running from March to September 2025. This next phase marks a significant transition for the six pilot cities—Tampere (FI), Aarhus (DK), Riga (LV), Östersund (SE), Norderstedt (DE), and Bytom (PL)—as they move from planning to the practical integration of the Climate Action Decision Support (CADS) Tool into municipal governance and budgeting processes.

From Insights to Action

This phase builds on lessons learned during the first piloting and focuses on applying and testing the CADS Tool’s upgraded features, including scenario building, cost-benefit visualizations, and budget-linked climate planning. Cities are now feeding the tool with updated data—such as revised emissions projections, new climate actions, and financial indicators—to explore more targeted and effective pathways toward climate neutrality.

A core element of this phase is fostering stakeholder engagement and cross-departmental collaboration within municipalities. Through interactive use sessions, workshops, and sprint formats, cities are engaging teams from finance, environment, transport, and planning departments to align climate goals with fiscal strategies. Key activities include:

• Scenario Building: Testing different climate action scenarios to support strategic planning.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Using enhanced tool visualisations to assess the financial impacts of measures and support evidence-based decisions.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engaging key departments and external stakeholders will ensure that the tool’s usability can be easily integrated into daily governance and budgeting processes.

Looking Ahead: Towards Broader Impact

The City of Riga is leading this piloting phase, facilitating peer learning and ensuring consistency across cities through regular check-ins and online Q&A sessions. While each city adapts the tool to its specific context, this coordinated approach promotes mutual support, progress tracking, and shared learning.

This piloting phase sets the stage for a broader rollout of the CADS Tool. It will culminate in the first Climate Budget Summit on October 1-2, 2025, where also the Climate Budget Training Course for municipal professionals will be launched. This course aims to build long-term capacity and foster widespread adoption of climate budgeting practices across the Baltic Sea Region.

Beyond the pilot cities, Climate-4-CAST plans to expand its impact, strengthen policy integration, and offer practical tools to support climate action integration into local budgeting processes of local authorities.

Programme Manual Online

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