What we delivered

  • Supported Vilnius in developing its Climate City Contract and Green City Action Plan

  • Helped identify and develop bankable projects to create a clear pathway to funding for sustainable initiatives

  • An extensive baseline analysis across 130 indicators, enabling informed decision-making and strategic planning

Services used
Climate and sustainability consulting / Environmental consulting / Planning, policy and advice

Get in touch with our team

With an ambitious goal to become climate-neutral by 2030, Vilnius became the first Baltic capital to join the Green Cities programme, which helps cities identify and address their most pressing environmental challenges. Although the city had already gathered extensive environmental data, it needed to integrate this data to inform a more strategic approach to urban planning.

To support this transformation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) appointed Arup to develop Vilnius' Green City Action Plan (GCAP). Our role involved supporting the city in setting up its vision and strategic goals, prioritising bankable projects and engaging a wide range of stakeholders. The resulting GCAP integrates environmental data to guide strategic urban planning and identifies challenges and solutions across in sectors like energy, transport, and waste, while also providing capacity-building support through training and workshops.

In parallel, we created an investment plan for Vilnius' Climate City Contract (CCC), which has since been approved by the European Commission, earning the city the prestigious EU Mission Label. Vilnius is the first city to combine EBRD’s GCAP with the EU’s CCC, creating a unified, forward-looking roadmap for sustainable development.

The municipality welcomed the outcomes, highlighting the GCAP’s value in delivering a comprehensive, integrated view of bankable urban sustainability and resilience projects. This unified plan now serves as a strategic guide for future efforts across priority sectors and industries, supporting Vilnius in advancing its climate-neutral goals.

Tali Trigg

Principal | Green Cities | Electric Mobility, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Driving success through collaboration

Our team consisted of a broad range of experts to put together a holistic approach to urban transformation. Building on our experience delivering GCAPs for Warsaw and Walbrzych in Poland, Split in Croatia and Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semey in Kazakhstan among others, our specialists connected Vilnius to other cities to enable experience-sharing among them.

Our consultants facilitated comprehensive engagement in the constellation of stakeholders across Vilnius, bringing together city departments, municipal companies, NGOs, academia representatives and the private sector. Some stakeholder meetings exceeded 70 attendees.

This collaborative approach allowed for a holistic understanding of the city's needs and priorities, creating alignment and buy-in while fostering a sense of ownership from across all city stakeholders that will be crucial to the plan’s success. The positive experience gathered through these events saw Vilnius expand the consultation process.

An aerial view of Vilnius city centre

Vilnius' GCAP provides a way for the city to deliver on its ambition to become an ‘open, innovative, constantly experimenting and sustainably developing city.'