Finland

Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) coordination

Finngroup Consultants is supporting the Ministry of the Environment in Finland in substance matters, technical matters, and international projects related to sustainable construction and circular economy of the construction sector:

Coordination, development and implementation of international projects;
Coordination between the Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations Environment programme with regards to sustainable construction and circular economy of the construction sector, as part of the implementation of the new global agenda on Sustainable Construction and Production;
Focal point in coordination with the 10YFP Secretariat (UNEP) in matters related to sustainable built environment;
Communication and coordination between the Ministry of the Environment, UNEP, 10YFP Secretariat and the Global ABC network;
Participation in external communication, reporting, and organisation of events and meetings.

Year of implementation: 2023-2025

Client: The Ministry of the Environment in Finland

Funding application for Business Finland Co-innovation fund for the Sustainable material economy of buildings and construction in Africa (SUMEA) project

Finngroup Consultant was involved in the preparation of a Business Finland Co-innovation -funding application. The applied funding is planned to be used for the implementation of the Sustainable material economy of buildings and construction in Africa (SUMEA) project.

Year of implementation: 2023

Client: Aalto WiTLAB, Aalto university

Results: A Co-innovation funding application for Business Finland

Results: The project aims to 1) initiate a process for a long-term transformation of the building materials sector to increase resource efficiency and circularity and to reduce embodied carbon, greenhouse gas emissions and cost; and 2) to establish a strong and long-term link between sustainable and circular building materials, and holistically sustainable planning, design, and construction of affordable housing. The project will support employment creation and local SMEs, accelerate supply of building materials, build capacities, and create mutual knowledge (North-South).

Funding application for Aalto university’s internal Seed funding for further project preparation of Sustainable material economy of buildings and construction in Africa (SUMEA) project

Following the initial project development of the Sustainable material economy of buildings and construction in Africa (SUMEA) project (described in detail below), Finngroup Consultants prepared a funding application on behalf of Aalto university’s Aalto WiTLAB for Aalto university’s internal Seed funding for further development of the SUMEA project. The applied Seed funding will be used to develop further project proposals targeted to different donors, using the information and analysis of the initial project document, prepared for the Ministry of the Environment. The Seed funding will be used for preparing a full project proposal for Business Finland, both for Aalto university and for the entire project consortium, project proposals for Business Finland Developing markets platform and Finnpartnership and for preparing funding applications for alternative donors.

Year of implementation: 2022

Client: Aalto WiTLAB, Aalto university

Results: A funding application for Aalto university’s internal Seed funding

Impacts: The project aims to 1) initiate a process for a long-term transformation of the building materials sector to increase resource efficiency and circularity and to reduce embodied carbon, greenhouse gas emissions and cost; and 2) to establish a strong and long-term link between sustainable and circular building materials, and holistically sustainable planning, design, and construction of affordable housing. The project will support employment creation and local SMEs, accelerate supply of building materials, build capacities, and create mutual knowledge (North-South).

Feasibility study, target country assessment, consortium planning, donor mapping/ negotiations and a full project document for Sustainable material economy of buildings and construction in Africa (SUMEA) project

The housing backlog on the African continent is at least 51 million units, which has led to a major need of building materials. The sector is dominated by expensive imported materials. The local production of building materials is at risk to end up on a high-carbon development path but presents a great opportunity for economic development and job creation. There is also a significant need to link knowledge of sustainable building materials to knowledge of holistically sustainable planning, design, and construction of affordable housing.

To address these issues, Finngroup Consultants prepared a feasibility study, target country assessment, project partner mapping, donor mapping and a full project document, and conducted negotiations with potential donors and consortium partners. The project was commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment’s Sustainable Buildings and Construction programme which had formed a project development consortium with Aalto university.

The project was developed in line with Finland’s strategy for Africa for a 3- year project worth of approximately 4 million euros in Sub-Saharan Africa and it presents a methodology that can be scaled up in different African countries. Initially, the project will be implemented in either South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana, or Tanzania. Aalto WiTLAB will be the lead of the project and the project consortium will consist of Finnish and local private sector and/or civil sector as well as Finnish and local universities.

Year of implementation: 2021-2022

Client: The Ministry of the Environment of Finland

Results: A full project document for Sustainable material economy of buildings and construction in Africa (SUMEA) project including results of a feasibility study, target country assessment, consortium planning, and donor mapping/negotiations

Coordination of the preparation of Finland’s first national report to the United Nations on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) in Finland since its adoption in 2016

The New Urban Agenda (NUA) was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, on 20 October 2016 in order to guide the sustainable urban development of United Nations member states. The NUA was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly at its sixty-eighth plenary meeting of the seventy-first session on 23 December 2016. The United Nations member states report regularly on the progress of the implementation of the NUA in their countries.

In Finland the Ministry of the Environment oversees the national reporting of the NUA. The process of the preparation of the first national NUA report started with a recruitment of two contractors: Finngroup Consultants for the coordination of the qualitative reporting and the Finnish Environment Institute for the coordination of the quantitative reporting. For the qualitative reporting of the + 50 themes of the NUA reporting framework, at least one professional from the state, regional and city level and, depending on the theme, also the academia, labour unions, civil society, the private sector, financing institutions and media were identified forming +50 groups with authors and contributors. The final document was submitted to UN-Habitat in July 2021.

Year of implementation: 2021

Client: The Ministry of the Environment of Finland

Results: Qualitative report of the progress of implementing the New Urban Agenda in Finland during the years 2016-2021

Impacts: Knowledge sharing in Finland and globally of the progress of the implementation of sustainable urban development in Finland during 2016-2021.