Gaia news 2012
A new Climate Partners network formed by the City of Helsinki and business sets ambitious plans for mitigating climate change
Gaia spars the establishment of the Climate Partners network, which aims to bring pioneer organizations together to develop new solutions to combat global warming as well as find new business opportunities.
The Climate Partners network convened on 17 April for the first time at the Helsinki City Hall. At the meeting, the City of Helsinki’s Mayor Jussi Pajunen signed a climate commitment together with Alma Media, Forum Virium, Elisa, the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, Kesko, Lassila & Tikanoja, Lemminkäinen, Logica, Martela, NCC, Nordea, Paulig, Siemens, Skanska, Sponda, Stockmann, Tapiola Real Estate, VR Group, VVO and YIT.
In the respective commitments, companies defined how
they plan to mitigate climate change in their own operations. The main goals of
the network include reducing carbon dioxide emissions, advancing
energy-efficiency and developing new services. Companies have made tangible commitments,
such as to “increase the use of green electricity to 20% of total consumption”,
“replace company cars by 2020 with models with carbon dioxide emissions below
130 g/km”, “increase real estate waste recycling rates to 90% by 2015” or “reduce
the carbon footprint of information and communications technology by 30% by
2020”.
Gaia was strongly involved in planning the network. Gaia
conducted a study on the needs of companies regarding climate partnerships
together with the Environment Centre of the City of Helsinki and planned a
preliminary concept for the network. In addition, a workshop was organized
together with interested companies and other stakeholders to brainstorm ideas
for the network and validate the results of the study.
"There is a strong need among companies for a
Helsinki-centred, local climate network. The involvement of the City of
Helsinki brings credibility to the network and positive publicity to the
participating companies’ climate work. These pioneer organizations will create
both locally and globally competitive and useful solutions and practices",
says Alina Pathan, Senior Consultant
at Gaia Consulting.
More information on the network and the commitments of
the members of the network can be found at: www.ilmastokumppanit.fi
For
further information:
Pasi Rinne, Chairman of the Board, Gaia
Group, tel. +41 79 472 6909
Alina
Pathan, Senior Consultant, Gaia Consulting, tel. + 358 50 381 3553