Mayors of Finland’s six largest cities call for cities to take lead in climate policy

The mayors of Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Turku and Oulu, the six largest cities of Finland, made a joint statement at their meeting in Helsinki on Wednesday, August 10th, emphasizing the responsibility of cities in the work against climate change. The statement presents six tangible climate initiatives, which the cities seek jointly to promote.   

The initiatives are related to construction, support for citizens’ climate acts, and development of the cities’ own activities. The mayors decided to advance the following joint climate acts:
- development of a roadmap on energy-smart construction for each city
- development of construction instructions and supervision in the direction of energy information and quality management
- development of climate information and support for citizens’ climate acts through a joint project by the cities
- assignment of eco-support staff for workplaces
- lowering the need for travel by introduction of teleconferencing
- climate impact assessment in budgeting

The mayors of the six cities established the Mayors’ Climate Network in spring 2011. The initiative for the network came from Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and it is included in the ERA17 energy-smart built environment programme of Finland’s Ministry of the Environment, Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, and Sitra. The ERA17 objective is that Finland will achieve its emission-reduction goal for the built environment already in 2017, before its deadline.

The Mayors’ Climate Network seeks to further the achievement of the EU’s energy and climate goals as well as eco-efficient urban development. The network will help to bring about new initiatives, to further co-operation, and to spread good practices among large cities.
 
The Mayors’ Climate Network is composed of the mayors of Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Turku and Oulu. The network is chaired by Tampere Mayor Timo P. Nieminen.