VLR report part 2: Sustainable development work in Vantaa

In Vantaa, sustainable development is promoted throughout the organisation, even though the activities are not usually stated through the framework of the SDGs. All of the city’s basic activities and separate development efforts through projects, for example, support the promotion of sustainable development goals in one way or another.

The City of Vantaa’s strategy states that the sustainable development goals will be taken into account in all operations, and that they will be promoted particularly through five strategic themes, according to which this report is structured. The development work carried out under the themes is described in the following chapters of the report.

In addition to the work taking place throughout the organisation, active city-level development work based on the SDG framework is being carried out in Vantaa. Since 2023, the staff includes a permanent sustainability specialist who presents a comprehensive 2030 Agenda perspective broadly and at city level. The goal is to integrate a holistic perspective of sustainable development into all operations and key processes and documents, such as the strategy and the programmes that implement it. Sustainable development is not seen as a separate entity with its own separate measures or strategy. Instead, the perspectives are integrated into all activities.

Sustainable development work at city level requires extensive collaboration both within and outside the organisation. Various networks within the city organisation enable cross-administrative information exchange and discussion, which promotes the adoption of a broader perspective and the discovery of new opportunities for cooperation. Vantaa is involved in a variety of networks and collaborates on sustainable development issues with other cities at the national level and internationally.

Vantaa is actively involved in the SDG network of Finland’s six largest cities, which is coordinated by the Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities (The network project Strategic Management of SDGs in Cities | Kuntaliitto.fi). The network engages in close and effective collaboration, for example, by co-developing various tools to support the strategic management of the SDGs, discussing common challenges and learning from good practices in other cities. The network also collaborates extensively with national and international operators, which enables the voice of cities to be heard more strongly in various contexts.

In Vantaa, the promotion of a holistic perspective on sustainable development occurs largely through the city strategy. In addition to strategic work, raising awareness within the city organisation, through training, workshops and internal communications, for example, plays a significant role. Even though everyone in Vantaa already implements at least some aspect of sustainable development through their own work, a more holistic perspective is often missing on how different sustainable development goals are linked to each other and how our actions can also cause unintended negative impacts if we do not evaluate them through a broader framework.

In Vantaa, processes are being developed to strengthen a holistic perspective on sustainability. The aim is to integrate the efforts into project-oriented development, for example. Responsibility principles have been introduced for events organised by the city, which comprehensively include different aspects of sustainable development. A section on sustainable development has been included in the orientation package for all new employees. Vantaa has its own SDG specifications, which make it easier to bring the goals into the local context and see everyone’s work as part of sustainable development efforts.

Vantaa’s SDG specifications are used to support thinking and discussion, for example in workshops that utilise tools developed in the SDG network of the six largest cities. Tools like the SDG analysis canvas help us identify both positive and negative impacts that our actions may have on various sustainable development goals. They allow us to discuss how positive impacts could be strengthened and negative impacts minimised.

Important development points in city-level SDG work include, for example, linking VLR reporting to broader data-driven management development and monitoring indicators between reports. VLR reporting is already tied to strategy and strategic themes, but the connection between strategy and VLR reporting can be further bolstered.

The Vantaa City Group includes the parent city and approximately 50 communities, including subsidiaries, associated communities and joint municipal authorities. The city requires responsible and ethical operations from the communities in its ownership. The city group has a significant impact on stakeholders through operations, finances, personnel management and procurement, among other things. Ownership steering promotes responsible business operations within group entities. This ensures that group entities take into account the city strategy’s responsibility goals and carbon neutrality target.

The promotion of sustainable business within the group entities primarily means that the companies must identify the environmental impacts of their own operations and act in an economically and socially sustainable manner. Each company has been set a specific sustainability-related theme or goal in the entity-specific ownership policy guidelines, which determines the long-term sustainability goals the city as an owner sets for the companies.  The largest subsidiaries have also prepared their own responsibility programmes, in which they have identified the key areas of responsibility for their business. 

The City of Vantaa's group entities play a key role in achieving the city’s climate goals, such as the carbon neutrality target. The responsibility programmes of the largest subsidiaries have included measures that broadly support the sustainability and climate goals of the City of Vantaa. In addition, city-owned property companies aim to improve energy efficiency, promote the circular economy and use resources wisely. Alongside the environmental theme, responsibility is promoted in subsidiaries from an economic and social perspective. Transparency is the goal when promoting responsibility. It is essential that actions can be measured in such a way that the effects of the actions can be monitored and the impacts assessed.

The subsidiaries’ responsibility programmes are based on the SDGs, in addition to the City of Vantaa’s responsibility and climate goals. These goals steer the companies to continuously improve their operations in various areas of responsibility, such as combatting climate change, reducing inequality and responsible consumption. The SDGs have been taken into account in the companies’ ownership policies and are utilised in setting annual goals for them.

As of 2025, the largest companies in the Vantaa Group, Vantaan Energia Oy, VAV Group and Vantaan Tilapalvelut Vantti Oy, will be subject to CSRD reporting, i.e. the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. VTK Kiinteistöt Group will report in accordance with the reporting standards voluntarily from 2026 onwards. CSRD reporting requires companies to provide comprehensive and transparent reporting on their responsibility activities, i.e. environmental impacts, social impacts and governance practices. The purpose of the reporting is to assess the consistency of companies’ responsibility activities with the EU’s sustainable development goals. The aim is to enable impacts to be monitored and assessed using consistent criteria. In addition, reporting provides information on how companies promote the SDGs in their operations.

In Vantaa, various aspects of sustainable development are widely taken into account in procurement. Responsibility is one of the values ​​of the City of Vantaa, and sustainable development has played a significant role in Vantaa’s strategy for a quite some time. A large portion of the city’s budget is spent on various procurements, which is why it is important to consider whether each procurement promotes the realisation of the city’s values ​​and goals or whether they work against them. The majority of the city’s operations and services are currently carried out directly or indirectly through procurement. For the city to conduct responsible operations, responsible procurements are requirements.

Taking sustainable development into account in procurement is also required by several international agreements, national and EU legislation, the national procurement strategy (Hankinta-Suomi), and many of Vantaa’s commitments and cooperation network goals. The city’s own commitments and roadmaps (such as the resource wisdom roadmap), programmes, and procurement guidelines also require that sustainable development themes be taken into account in procurement. Taxpayers, i.e. the municipal residents, also expect responsibility from the municipalities and cities. This has been investigated in a recent consumer survey, for example: How to make a difference through purchases and why this is important? – Swan Label). According to the survey, 75 per cent of Finns believe that municipalities should set an example through their responsible procurements. More than two-thirds believe that financial savings should not be pursued at the expense of the environment and human rights. In addition to environmental and social aspects, procurement promotes economic sustainability: we always check the financial situation of companies and strive to prevent the grey economy.

The circular economy in procurements

In addition to taking sustainable development perspectives into account when purchasing services and new goods, it is important to critically assess procurement needs and strive to reduce new procurements by investing in the circular economy.

Promoting the circular economy in procurement saves natural resources and emissions, thereby reducing the environmental and climate impacts of procurements. Efforts have been made to bolster the circular economy in the city’s procurements. For example, since 2024, the loose furniture procurement contract has entailed the option of purchasing recycled office and public space furniture from the supplier. The goal is to make purchasing recycled furniture an easy, affordable and natural way to acquire furniture.

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Recycling Centre has been selected as the city’s contracted supplier, meaning that you can purchase used goods or craft materials from the Recycling Centre (with certain restrictions). The aim is to promote the purchase of used goods instead of new ones, for example through communication and education.

The circular economy in procurement is also promoted through training on sustainable procurement, which also encourages the use of different forms of goods instead of buying new ones. As an example, the city has increased the number of shared goods and wants to increase their use. The circular economy can also promote social responsibility. For example, the recycling centre of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area employs and trains long-term unemployed persons, thereby increasing social inclusion and reducing exclusion.

After rehabilitative work activities were transferred to the well-being services county at the beginning of 2023, the internal city-wide furniture recycling programme within the City of Vantaa also ended. Now, pieces of furniture and fixtures are recycled on a smaller scale across various fields and through an internal city platform. The education and learning sector also offers small-scale furniture repair as a workshop activity. Developing the recycling of furniture and movables would save costs and natural resources, along with strengthening the circular economy. Furniture recycling should be developed to be more comprehensive. 

Vantaa's model for combatting labour exploitation and human trafficking

Vantaa has been working for years to combat labour exploitation and human trafficking. Collaboration has been carried out with other large cities and the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI). In 2024, Vantaa’s model for combatting labour exploitation and human trafficking was finalised. The model has been presented to the relevant sectors, and the specific characteristics of each industry and the risks of labour exploitation and human trafficking in the industries' procurement have been considered. Information about the model is also communicated to all personnel. The goal is that every employee of the City of Vantaa is aware of the phenomenon and knows how to act if suspicions of labour exploitation or human trafficking arise. Posters in the cleaning personnel’s workspaces communicate the possibilities of securing help if someone feels that they or a colleague, for example, have fallen victim to occupational exploitation or human trafficking. In addition to training and communication, the model also involves developing corporate auditing.

Meija Tuominen has worked for over 20 years in various administrative and development positions in different parts of Vantaa’s administration. She currently works as an administrative expert in the service area relating to municipal democracy. 

How do you promote sustainable development in your work? 
In municipal democracy, we have many areas of responsibility that are closely related to the 2030 Agenda. We are responsible for, among other things, organising elections, the work of the highest decision-making bodies, city security, data protection, and promoting gender equality and equality for all people at the city level. Equality and non-discrimination are particularly important to us. In this context, the framework is formed by the comprehensive obligations of the Act on Equality between Women and Men and the Non-Discrimination Act to ensure non-discrimination and promotion in all our services. 

Is gender equality not already at a very good level in Finland and municipal services? Is the case not the same for equality? 
There are numerous countries and regions in the world in which the human rights of girls and women, for example, are currently suffering severe attacks and setbacks, and this is also happening in Europe. Human rights should be protected. We also cannot accept gaps in equality and non-discrimination on the grounds that the situation is much worse somewhere else. For example, we have quantitative and qualitative research showing that there is strong discrimination based on ethnic background in Finland. Discrimination takes many forms, not only direct racism.

What does sustainability mean to you? 
Above all, we should learn to look at what we do and reconcile it from multiple perspectives, i.e. to achieve environmental, social, economic and cultural responsibilities. To me, sustainability also means continuity, that we can build on what has already been achieved through long-term goals. In addition, the 2030 Agenda must promote gender equality (SDG5) as such, but it must also be taken into account in efforts related to other SDGs. This is called the dual strategy. 

What is difficult about your job? 
Many things. For example, the old issues in equality and non-discrimination work persist or change their form but, at the same time, new problems arise that require a great deal of familiarisation and attention from management, experts and various actors. These currently include, among other things, the non-discrimination of artificial intelligence, various types of human trafficking and “new” forms of violence against women. On a personal level, a serious challenge is the high turnover of my colleagues, which means that I am often forced to start all my efforts over again almost from scratch in some new service. 

And where do you get the strength and energy for your work? 
I have had the pleasure of working closely and comprehensively with a wide variety of competent parties within our organisation, nationally and internationally. Even though the topics are very serious, we are brought together by a similar sense of humour and a desire to support and help each other.