As the news of global warming continues to dominate the world, some cities are leading in the effort to encourage residents to make more environmentally-friendly choices and be more aware of their surroundings.
Think Sustainably, a platform launched in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2019, provides residents, business owners, and visitors with tools that can help them rethink daily behaviors and make better lifestyle and business choices.
Demos Helsinki, a think tank, developed criteria to rate Helsinki businesses such as restaurants, galleries, and attractions. Criteria include greenhouse emissions from energy production mob, ility, and food. Other factors taken into consideration include waste management, circular economy, biodiversity protection, accessibility, employment, and preventing racism.
The website Think Sustainably marks businesses that are considered sustainable with a heart in green. Tia Hallanoro is the director of brand communications and digital developments at Helsinki Marketing. She says that the platform has generated “very positive responses from locals as well as local service providers.” It does not only make sustainable choices simple, but it also transparently teaches both consumers and service providers what they should consider when it comes to sustainability.
Hallanoro adds that “many businesses see it as a tangible toolbox and an incentive to develop their services further, which is fantastic because we need everyone onboard.” As a start, many entrepreneurs are progressive in Helsinki and have a genuine desire to go above and beyond. It’s like a positive flywheel – our goal is to accelerate service providers that do things better than ever before and spread the change movement amongst them. “As they say, revolutions start slowly and then happen all at once. They become inevitable.”
The city aims to be carbon neutral by the year 2035. Laura Aalto explains, as CEO of Helsinki Marketing, that Helsinki’s compact size and its well-developed cluster for knowledge-based economies, along with its well-functioning infrastructure, make it a “perfect test-bed” for solutions that can be later scaled up for megacities around the world.
Think Sustainably, which is in its pilot phase, will include “a wider range of sustainable options from restaurants to transportation,” according to Hallanoro. We aim to open up the initiative to all businesses in 2020 to allow them to update our open database, the MyHelsinki API.
Other cities share similar ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality. Copenhagen, Denmark, aims to be carbon neutral by the year 2025. The concept of the 5-minute city is one way to accomplish this. The idea of the five-minute city was developed to help achieve this goal.
The Fab Cities Network is a network of cities, regions, and countries that are committed to producing all they consume before 2054.
These initiatives, which are based on the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN set forth in 2015, help residents make sustainable choices without friction. In the Sustainable Cities and Communities Goal of the UN, the organization aims to have countries “reduce adverse environmental impacts per capita of cities by 2030, paying particular attention to air pollution and municipal and other waste disposal”.
JWT Intelligence’s report, “Regeneration: The New Sustainability, “shows that consumers are passionate about sustainable living. 89% of respondents care about the environment, 92% say they are trying to live sustainably, and 79% have become more aware of their impact on the earth. The report found that 46% of respondents (which rose to 70% in China) believe governments should lead the sustainability effort. 91% agree, thinking companies, countries, and individuals should work together towards sustainability goals.
These initiatives encourage consumers to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, resulting in a more significant change.
