Jobs        Find partners        Bamos+        Subscribe       Log in       

Find partners      Log in       

interreg-baltic-sea-region-is-a-source-of-eu-funding
Innovative societies Water-smart societies Climate-neutral societies 

Interreg makes
a difference!

Explore how people in the Baltic Sea region have been benefitting
from our projects.

#MadeWithInterreg solutions for

Cleaner waters

Cleaner waters thanks to viable monitoring system, new methods for removing micropollutants from wastewater and sharing knowledge

What are we doing?

Coordinated actions are the key to cleaning Baltic Sea waters efficiently. Interreg projects that bring people together across sectors and countries stand behind many of them. Not only do they introduce new systemic methods to clean wastewater, but also ensure the spread of knowledge of those methods in the region. Trust in project recommendations directly translates into new policies and investments. In a long run, cooperation in projects exceeds original partnerships and builds grounds for new initiatives and actions to respond to arising challenges.

Examples of #MadeWithInterreg solutions:
  • a platform collecting best practices in smart water operations
  • a risk assessment system to monitor concentrations of micropollutants
  • novel methods to clean wastewater from micropollutants, e.g. pharmaceuticals
  • new technologies to reduce phosphorus losses
  • enhanced water treatment to improve water quality in lakes

 

What we’ve achieved so far? 

The Baltic Sea is one of the most heavily eutrophicated seas in the world. Interreg projects helped improve wastewater treatment, which is one of the factors influencing eutrophication. At the beginning of the 2000s, more than 20 cities collected best practices in water management and shared them with other city administrations around the Baltic Sea region. In 2009-2013, projects showcased that it was possible to reduce discharges of nutrients from wastewater treatment facilities to the level set in the Baltic Sea Action Plan of HELCOM. The HELCOM Action Plan targets were stricter than the EU requirement.

In 2016-2021, projects in cities and villages focused on improving the treatment of wastewater from residents and industries. Partners in projects tested new technologies that increased nutrient removal and reduced energy consumption in cities such as Daugavpils, Gdańsk, Tartu, Jūrmala, Kaunas, and Grevesmühlen. Rural municipalities benefitted from solutions like septic tanks and soil infiltration in Kolgaküla, Gennarby, Ainaži, and Leitgiriai. In other projects, partners tested the pre-treatment of wastewater at poultry, meat, and dairy factories in Leszno, Doruchów, Põltsamaa, and Jelgava. Following this joint work, the partners synthesised more than a hundred examples of smart water operations. Using this knowledge, they helped develop the new Baltic Sea Regional Nutrient Recycling Strategy of HELCOM, and revise the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. These two strategic documents help achieve a healthy state of the Baltic Sea.

 

Ongoing projects

The ongoing projects explore new methods to clean wastewater more efficiently and better monitor concentrations of harmful substances and micropollutants in water environments. They address various stages of water management, starting from pollution prevention at its source, extending to robust monitoring and risk assessment practices, and culminating in the adoption of advanced wastewater treatment technologies. The projects aim to influence policy-making processes and implement practical measures for long-term improvements.

 

Supporting the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 

Our projects play a vital role in achieving the ambitious goals of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) to save the Baltic Sea. In collaboration with the coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Nutri, Bioeconomy, Hazards, and Tourism, our projects make water and wastewater management more efficient and less resource-intensive in cities, rural areas, and tourist destinations. Together, our projects and the EUSBSR coordinators drive changes in water-related policies in our region, ensuring that the outcomes of our projects are integrated into legislation and continue to contribute to clearer, cleaner waters in the region.

 

Explore project solutions in more detail:

EMPEREST

Eliminating Micro-Pollutants from Effluents for REuse STrategies
The project EMPEREST tests advanced treatment technology that helps water utilities and companies better remove organic micropollutants such as PFAS or pharmaceuticals from wastewater.
Read more about the project

APRIORA

Improved risk assessment for strategic water management to reduce micro-pollutant emissions in the Baltic Sea Region
In the project APRIORA, environmental protection agencies and wastewater treatment plants get equipped with a GIS-based risk assessment system to monitor and model concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in order to improve water management and reduce emissions.
Read more about the project

BEACON

Application of biological effects methods in monitoring and assessment of contaminants in the Baltic Sea
In the project BEACON, public authorities and governmental organisations develop harmonised methods to assess contamination in the Baltic Sea waters, sediment and biota.
Read more about the project

AdvIQwater

Improving quality of BSR waters by advanced treatment processes
The project AdvIQwater tests photocatalysis, fungal treatment and biofilms methods to efficiently clean wastewaters from pharmaceuticals.
Read more about the project

NonHazCity 3

Reducing hazardous substances in construction to safeguard the aquatic environment, protect human health and achieve more sustainable buildings
The project NonHazCity 3 helps municipalities, entrepreneurs and individuals construct and renovate buildings with tox-free materials in order to protect health and the environment.
Read more about the project

TRUST ALUM

Building trust in target groups for ALUM treatment - an effective, yet misunderstood method for water quality improvement
The project TRUST ALUM helps public authorities in the Baltic countries make better use of ALUM water treatment and improve water quality in lakes.
Read more about the project

MUNIMAP

Baltic Sea Munitions Remediation Roadmap
The project MUNIMAP develops a legal and administrative framework for public authorities to initiate joint remediation of dumped munitions from the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak, which pose threats to the marine ecosystem and hinder the maritime economy.
Read more about the project

Circular spaces

Circular Economy makerspace
The project Circular spaces brings together operators and users of maker spaces in eco-design and material reuse to jointly contribute to sustainable product development.
Read more about the project

Blue Platform

Bioeconomy for Blue Growth in the Baltic Sea Region – a platform project to capitalize on the outputs of complementary transnational projects
Blue Platform compiled solutions from Interreg and Horizon projects in blue bioeconomy to pave the way for emerging economic opportunities that explore innovative and sustainable uses of marine resources.
Read more about the project

Smart-up BSR

Improving smart specialisation implementation of the Baltic Sea Region through orchestrating innovation hubs
The Interreg project Smart-up BSR helped regions in eight countries across the Baltic Sea to implement smart specialisation strategies and develop their strengths in healthy ageing, climate change, circular economy and smart city.
Read more about the project

BSR Cultural Pearls

Baltic Sea Region Cultural Pearls for more resilient Cities and Regions
The project BSR Cultural Pearls helps smaller cities and regions be more attractive to live in and improve their quality of life by engaging people in cultural activities and developing a stronger sense of commonship.
Read more about the project

CONTRA

Baltic Beach Wrack - Conversion of a Nuisance To a Resource and Asset
The CONTRA project helped local authorities and businesses in coastal destinations that rely on beach tourism identify viable solutions for managing and recycling beach wrack whilst protecting the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

DiveSMART-Baltic

Diving with State Maritime Resources in The Baltic
The Interreg project DiveSMART-Baltic mapped competences of divers in nine countries around the Baltic Sea, and equipped rescue centres, rescue services and other involved services with operational procedures that harmonise and accelerate joint search and rescue missions in an underwater environment in order to save more human lives.
Read more about the project

Mobile Hospital

Mobile Hospital, Digital counseling environment for children and families
The project Mobile Hospital develops a mobile application that helps children and their families experience authentic hospital surroundings and better prepare for a hospital visit.
Read more about the project

C4C

CULTURE4CLIMATE
C4C involves cultural and creative industries in the Baltic Sea region in co-design and in implementing long-lasting certification methods that allow the chosen sectors to not only measure their impact, but also reduce their footprint and create a large outreach. C4C aims to map the individual needs by cultural sector, create and implement Piloting Tools and prepare a solid funding-framework.
Read more about the project

Lakes connect

Building networking hub for units interested in lakes protection in Baltic Sea tourist regions
The project Lakes connect establishes cooperation among authorities, NGOs and researchers in order to reduce the impact of tourism on water quality in lakes.
Read more about the project

BSR CLIMATE BUDGET

Cities and regions for a BSR climate resilient development by means of climate budgeting
Municipalities have made the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to reach the climate change mitigation goals. Carbon budgeting efforts pin down emissions targets, but do not include financial or management measures. In contrast, climate budgets elevate the climate mitigation contribution of a project or measure as a primary consideration in financial budgeting and negotiation processes. The project explores this concept to support its introduction in planning and decision making practices.
Read more about the project

TRAC 4 SERIAL

TRAnsnational Cooperation for Serial Energy Refurbishment in BSR
The current pace of refurbishment of buildings is not enough to reach the EU goals of a climate neutral building stock by 2050. TRAC4SERIAL initiates the energy efficient refurbishment of multi-family residential buildings using prefabricated retrofits. This is not only more energy efficient but can also save time and costs. Costs can be reduced only by applying large quantities. Therefore, the TRAC4SERIAL aims to involve the necessary stakeholders to accelerate the process of serial refurbishment.
Read more about the project

HansaLink

Linking Hanseatic Cultural Heritage in the Baltic Sea Region
The rich cultural heritage of the Hanseatic League is being individually presented in Hanseatic towns, but not yet as a common asset at the transnational level. To address this gap, the project aims at developing transnational links between Hanseatic towns and sights based on historic trade connections dating back to medieval times. It will conceptualize thematic routes, which allow citizens and visitors to experience a culture shaped by trade, individual encounters, and common economic policy.
Read more about the project

WAMBAF

Water Management in Baltic Forests
The project WAMBAF provided tools for authorities and planners, forest enterprises, hunters and forest owners to better manage drainage systems, riparian forests and beaver activity in forests, and in doing so to keep clean waters flowing from forests to the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

ClimateAligned

Climate-Aligned budgeting at municipalities
The idea of ClimateAligned focuses on the matter that today many municipalities in Europe address the problem of climate change by implementing certain climate mitigation and adaptation policies and goals, but a concept which takes the whole municipal policy and the available budget into account is lacking. The main project wants to deliver a concept for guidelines for municipalities where budget decisions can be examined in terms of climate relevance over a longer time horizon. This would mean to develop a decision support methodology how to assess planning decisions and budget proposals in terms of their climate mitigation and adaptation relevance and their potential to contribute to mitigation and adaptation efforts in a systematic fashion.
Read more about the project

Baltic Sea2Land

Fostering integrated governance for the joint sustainable use of human and natural capital in the near shore zone
The project Baltic Sea2Land equips public authorities with the navigator tool that helps harmonise land and marine planning and balance initiatives that impact coastal development.
Read more about the project

Age@Work

Age@Work - Building Capacity for Age Management in Human Resources
In times of ageing work force and of skills shortages, it is important for employers to retain qualified staff and enable and motivate them to perform well as they age. Yet few employers implement age management, i.e. a human resource policy that fosters age-adjusted work environments, life-long learning and knowledge transfer. Age@Work aims to familiarise human resource managers and executives with age management and to raise their ability to apply it by way of education, training, counselling and professional exchange.
Read more about the project

DAIMON 2

Decision Aid for Marine Munitions - Practical Application
The project DAIMON2 optimised the tools that allow maritime and environmental authorities to more accurately and less costly make decisions on the management of the dumped munitions.
Read more about the project

CommitClimate

Towards energy transition and climate neutrality in the BSR municipalities
In the project CommitClimate, cities develop, test and deploy a computer-based simulation model to create sustainable energy and climate action plans to reduce carbon footprint.
Read more about the project

SUMBA

Sustainable urban mobility and commuting in Baltic cities
By developing master plans on commuting for nine municipalities in five Baltic Sea region countries, the Interreg project SUMBA paved a way for sustainable and greener transport transformation in the region.
Read more about the project

Circular FoodShift

Circular FoodShift in the Baltic countries
The project Circular FoodShift helps authorities in rural and peri-urban municipalities transform food models with less food waste at schools and gastronomy and new businesses upcycling food and food waste.
Read more about the project

HyTruck

Developing a transnational network of hydrogen refuelling stations for trucks
The project HyTruck helps public authorities design a network of hydrogen refuelling stations for large trucks, bringing the region closer to zero–emissions in road freight transport.
Read more about the project

Creative Ports

Creative Ports - Internationalisation of the Cultural and Creative Industries in the Baltic Sea Region
Creative ports facilitated internationalisation, joint value creation and peer learning in cultural and creative industries.
Read more about the project

BAB

Bike across the Baltic - Improving bicycle tourism around the Baltic Sea
The project BAB helps public authorities across the region harmonise infrastructure development of the Baltic Sea Cycle route and promote cycling tourism in the region.
Read more about the project

HAZGONE

Connecting up- and downstream measures for better hazardous substances governance and policy in the Baltic Sea Region
HAZGONE equips public authorities, NGOs, and businesses in the Baltic Sea region with knowledge, best practices, and training to tackle hazardous substances and micropollutants through the first holistic strategy, combining prevention at the source and advanced clean-up at the end of the pipe. HAZGONE consolidates outcomes from 14 EU projects.
Read more about the project

PlanHeat

Local Heat Planning - Achieving the Heat Transition in BSR Municipalities
The project PlanHeat brings together municipalities and expert organisations from seven countries to help cities develop local heat plans and meet tightening standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more about the project

Circ@Home

Resilience by circularity and sharing culture at households as precondition for climate-neutral cities: "Circ-in-Town = Circ@Home + Circular services"
The project Circ@Home drives urban circularity by helping households, municipalities, and companies adopt sustainable practices and reduce their environmental impact.
Read more about the project

LARS

Learning Among Regions on Smart Specialisation
The project LARS reinforced transnational learning in the implementation of the smart specialisation strategies and contributed to better connectivity of the regional innovation systems across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

CM

Cross Motion
The Interreg project CM helped audio-visual and videogame industry boost their businesses and enter new markets by teaming them up with traditional sectors of education, tourism and healthcare, and innovating their products with audio-visual content.
Read more about the project

RegenT

Integrating Regenerative Practices in Nature and Cultural Tourism​
RegenT project platform develops a regenerative tourism hub, offering training and policy recommendations for public authorities, destination management organisations (DMOs), NGOs, and business support organisations to make revitalisation and sustainable tourism a guiding strategy across the region. RegenT consolidates outcomes from 7 EU projects.
Read more about the project

Care@Home

Outpatient care and integrated day care provided by housing companies - affordable arrangements and solutions in home care services for elderly people
The ageing population is a major social, economic and cultural challenge in every civil society. As many elderly would like to continue to live independently and self-determined in their current environment, an increasing number of older people need to receive care services at home. The Care@Home project aims to provide a solution for this challenge by showing how a cooperation between professional care service providers and housing companies will lead to mutual benefits of all parties involved.
Read more about the project

ChemClimCircle-2

Fostering implementation of the ChemClimCircle approach to Green Public Procurement in the Baltic Sea Region
The project ChemClimCircle-2 provides public authorities with targeted training and an online platform to easily integrate climate protection, circularity, and chemical reduction goals into public procurement, promoting a greener, toxin-free future.
Read more about the project

EMPEREST

En-masse Mapping of PFAS In Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents for REuse STrategies in the Baltic Sea Region
Many different complex organic chemicals like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are contained in wastewater and not treated specifically. Polyfluoroalkyl substances do have significant impacts to the aquatic environment and direct threats to human health. Reuse strategies entail the advanced treatment. The seed project attempts to gather stakeholders, to provide an overview on the current situation regarding sources and pathways of polyfluoroalkyl substances in the Baltic Sea region and create viable solutions
Read more about the project

LowTEMP 2.0

LowTEMP 2.0
LowTemp 2.0 trained district heating stakeholders to improve their skills in reducing energy waste.
Read more about the project

Solutions stay with the people: listen to our #InterregVoices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© UBC SCC/Mariia Andreeva

Thanks to Interreg (...), we created momentum for essential aspects of sustainable water management connected to climate change, for example improving the wastewater and storm water management, reducing water pollution, and increasing the application of circular economy principles. [IWAMA; BSR Water]

 

 

 

Agnieszka Ilola 

Head of Secretariat, Union of the Baltic Cities, Sustainable Cities Commission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky

I can name a large number of examples of project outputs directly integrated into the regional policy framework. The first one is the recommendation on sludge handling. It was largely based on the PURE project. What’s more, the technologies tested in the project PURE to treat wastewater are in regular use now.

 

 

 

Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky

 Special Advisor to HELCOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© City of Turku

Thanks to Interreg projects, we have improved our public services for our citizens. Our water treatment facility has been involved in benchmarking water management processes and our water management processes have continuously been improving. Now, we have even better water quality and managed to keep the price of our water services at a moderate level.

Minna Arve

Mayor of Turku, Finland

#MadeWithInterreg solutions by topic

Agriculture

Explore

Attractive cities for people

Explore

Cleaner waters

Explore

Digitalisation

Explore

Energy efficiency

Explore

Fewer hazards

Explore

Health &
well-being

Explore

Healthy & sustainable
food

Explore

Inclusive 
communities

Explore

Renewable energy

Explore

Safety at sea

Explore

Strong & competitive
companies

Explore
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.