A practice-oriented intervention aimed at advancing sustainable urban renewal through targeted, practical interventions in Valga.

In Valga municipality, the CO2PED project represents a focused, practice-oriented intervention aimed at advancing sustainable urban renewal, implementing 'city centre first principle, facilitating energy-efficient building renovation, and coordinating strategic demolition processes to reduce carbon emissions and enhance urban quality of life. Unlike conventional climate policy approaches, which often target unrealistic carbon reductions, rather naivety not ambition in a broad array of objectives with diffuse implementation pathways, CO2PED prioritizes actionable, place-based solutions that are both technically feasible and administratively manageable in urban governance and community. Complementing this targeted approach in urbanshrinking, Valga’s Climate and Energy Plan (CEP) initiated in December 2024 provides a strategic planning framework and innovation package that integrates these localized urban regeneration activities into broader regional climate adaptation and mitigation goals. However, while CEP methodologies typically strive for comprehensive coverage across sectors, they risk operational complexity and limited execution capacity with red tape setback. In contrast, CO2PED deliberately concentrates on high-impact interventions in the built environment, ensuring clear governance structures, defined responsibilities, and measurable outcomes in line with the ethos of positive energy district.

The integration of CO2PED within the county-wide climate planning process was reinforced during the workshop in March 2025, with adopting the climate plan in summer 2025. Throughout this process, the CO2PED Estonia team actively contributes to maintaining coherence between municipal expectations—emphasizing clarity, simplicity, and tangible results—and the broader climate policy agenda for citizens and communities, thereby reinforcing Valga’s pathway towards practical, scalable urban decarbonization.