The Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007–2013 (''alias'' INTERREG IV B programme for the Baltic Sea region) is a support programme part-financed by the :European Union and Norway. It is one of the mainstream Structural Funds programmes under the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

's territorial co-operation objective. The Programme will support transnational projects working together for balanced and sustainable development of the European territory.

Co-operation area

The eligible co-operation area includes EU member states Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and northern parts of Germany, as well as the neighbouring countries of Norway, north-west regions of Russia and Belarus.

Objectives

Strategic objective of the programme is to make the Baltic Sea region an attractive place to invest, work and live in. Project partners (public or public-like institutions) form partnerships to look for joint solutions to common problems & challenges. The projects will contribute to the following priorities: * Fostering innovations * Internal and external accessibility *

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

as a common resource * Attractive and competitive cities and regions

BalticClimate

BalticClimate is the acronym for the project "Baltic Challenges and Chances for local and regional development generated by Climate Change". It was approved in October 2008 in the first Call of the "Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007–2013", a programme financed from the

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

(ERDF), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), the Norwegian national funding as well as by own contributions (co-financing) by the project partner institutions. The lead partner of BalticClimate is the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL)/ Germany. Within the project lifetime of November 2008 until April 2012 BalticClimate was implemented by twenty-three official project partner institutions and sixteen associated organisations from eight countries (

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

). The project focused on supporting regions, municipalities as well as cities in the Baltic Sea Region to pro-actively deal with the issue of climate change.

BSR Innoship

BSR InnoShip is a project that seeks to increase cooperation among the countries of the Baltic Sea Region to reduce ship and port emissions, and increase competitiveness in the marine industry. It is an environmentalist project led by the Baltic Institute of Finland. The project's aims are in line with the

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO; ; ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating maritime transport. The IMO was established following agreement at a ...

's recommendations to reduce sulphur oxide (SOx) and

nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide * Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), o ...

(NOx) emissions from ships in the Baltic Sea progressively by 2015. These two oxides are the main cause of eutrophication, which is an environmental effect that limits water nutrients and endangers sea life. The new Tier III for NOx emission standard's goal is 80% lower in comparison with Tier I, whereas marine fuel cannot exceed SOx level of 0.1% which should be enough to revert the current situation of the Baltic Sea Region by 2040. BSR InnoShip is financed by

Interreg Interreg is a series of programmes to stimulate cooperation between regions in and out of the European Union (EU), funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The first Interreg started in 1989. Interreg IV covered the period 2007–2013. I ...

's Baltic Sea Region Programme.Working Paper on the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Programme
.

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. Accessed 2013-05-11.

References

External links