In Sweden a unique project supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will be developed in close collaboration with coastal municipalities in Skåne, and with a coordinating role by Skåne´s Association of Local Authorities. These municipalities face a range of different environmental challenges, from areas along the eastern coast line facing problems related to the Baltic Sea, to municipalities in the Öresund region. In this study a range of different environmental conditions and related ecosystem services, from vulnerability to floods, erosion and sea level rise to strong pressure on coastal systems from urbanization will be investigated. Research questions and directions are built on cases and scenarios which are a part of the local municipality planning process. The approach will be to study the premises of implementing the Ecosystem Services (ES) in municipal planning and decision making of five coastal municipalities. The present study will analyse past decisions, present planning and future challenges for municipality development and management from the perspective of ES, with the aim of increasing our understanding of the ES concept as a tool for sustainable development. A second aim of the project is to evaluate the potential value of connecting the ES approach to ongoing climate change adaptation in the municipalities. The project will use the six-step approach developed by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity framework (TEEB) as the main conceptual frame. This approach includes the following steps: 1) Identifying and agreeing on the problem with stakeholders, 2) Identify the ES which are most relevant and pressing in municipality planning, 3) Collect and identify the information needs and the method to collect the data, 4) Assess expected changes in ES due to decision and input from society, 5) Identify policy options based on changes in ES and 6) Assess social and environmental impacts of 1-5.