The European Union is about to engage in a "Green industrial deal", which emphasizes the support to industrial activities while promoting continuous energy transition to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy dependency. Industrial areas where companies of various backgrounds are located, offer an unique opportunity to share both energetic and material resources and to bring energy efficiency to the highest levels. The partnership of the GreenIndustrialAreas project has therefore elaborated a Guideline for the certification of green industrial areas, aiming to establish criteria for a transnational standard applicable throughout the Baltic Sea Region. The guideline is supported by a Compendia of good practices in Energy transition in Baltic industrial areas, which will later serve as a tool-box for actors in industrial areas considering further energy-smart investments. Both draft solution are subjected to a pilot phase during 2024 at six industrial areas in five Baltic countries, involving a large number of different public and private target groups. Following peer review visits in autumn 2024, the draft solutions will be updated and revised for dissemination and mainstreaming activities in the project's final year.