To reduce both the Baltic Sea Region’s (BSR) emissions of CO2 and its dependency from oil and gas imports, industrial activities need to be decarbonised. To encourage and mobilise industry’s investments in decentralised renewable energy production, smart energy management and full energetic exploitation of energy sources in industrial processes, public authorities need innovative solutions that reliably lead to an increase of energy efficiency and hence a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in industrial production processes. Industrial areas where different companies work in proximity to each other allow on one hand synergies accelerating return of investment. On the other hand, public authorities may actively encourage change through regulation, e.g. the planning of a green industrial area. As knowledge about available technological solutions especially involving smart tools is unevenly spread in the BSR, no transnational standard for the certification of such areas exists until today. Project partners therefore aim to compile their expertise and knowledge in a tool-box for industrial areas to become smart and climate-neutral and a transnational standard for the certification of green industrial areas aiming for climate-neutrality. These outputs represent approaches that any BSR public authority can apply to trigger investments and to frame their own instruments to accelerate the decarbonisation of industrial activities while honouring frontrunners with a quality label.