VLR report part 8: Conclusions

The comprehensive promotion of sustainable development and the goals of the 2030 Agenda requires investment and commitment and often abandoning old ways of thinking and acting. Globally, the goals have not progressed at a sufficient pace, and only about 15 per cent of them have been achieved or are on track to be achieved by 2030. Member States reaffirmed their commitment to the 2030 Agenda in the Pact for the Future document published in 2024. The document also highlighted the importance of the local level as a promoter of sustainable development. Even stronger commitment from cities is needed to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda. This also requires looking further into the future and to coming generations.

A massive amount of work is being done in Vantaa towards the goals of sustainable development, both through basic work and development work, such as projects. Even though this work is not yet often framed through the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is linked to them in many ways. Recognising these links and seeing the work as part of a larger sustainable development framework creates new opportunities for impact.

Regarding the strategic themes, sustainable development is consciously promoted, but the dimensions of sustainable development still remain separate from each other in the relevant efforts. Ecological, social and economic sustainability is promoted through separate programmes and measures that have not been examined as a whole. Reviewing the programmes implementing the strategy through a comprehensive sustainable development framework would help identify synergies, conflicts and gaps between them. This is a good thing to strive for in the upcoming strategy period.

The Sustainable Development Goals are not separate from each other and cannot be promoted separately. They are connected in many ways, and these links can be both positive and negative. If operations and development work are not viewed from a comprehensive perspective of sustainable development, there may be unintentional negative impacts on some goals while striving for good in terms of other goals.

For example, the connections between well-being and environmental sustainability are highlighted in this report in relation to individual activities and themes. These connections are diverse and sometimes different goals can also conflict with each other. Environmental sustainability, adaptation to climate change and safeguarding biodiversity have clear positive links to well-being. On the other hand, making a city denser has complex, both positive and negative, impacts on the environment and well-being. Conflicts and negative impacts cannot always be avoided, but they should be recognised so that attention can be paid to minimising them.

Extensive and long-term SDG work has only been carried out in Vantaa for a relatively short time, even though previous VLR reports have already raised awareness of the issue considerably. Various training courses, presentations and internal communications that have been launched in recent years are driving awareness on many different levels. Sustainable development work and its genuine scope and impact can be strengthened by developing cross-administrative and knowledge-based management.

Team-specific, workshop-style SDG training is a good way to promote awareness and commitment to the SDGs, and we aim to organise courses as widely as possible across the organisation. The workshops generate new insights and understanding regarding what promoting sustainable development can mean in one’s own work, which increases ownership. Converting these insights into development work and concrete measures requires commitment to sustainable development at all levels of the organisation. The workshops will also consider negative impacts and ways to minimise them, which will benefit future sustainable development work.

Based on the examples in this report, cooperation emerges as one of Vantaa’s strengths. Vantaa has the expertise and willingness to engage in cross-administrative cooperation. Flexible working methods, low hierarchies and a culture of experimentation enable the emergence of new forms of collaboration. This also creates new ideas and innovations that benefit many aspects of sustainable development. Many of the social innovations presented in this report have already spread beyond Vantaa, and it is wonderful to see how operating models originating in Vantaa can also benefit others. Vantaa actively cooperates with other cities and organisations at local, national and international levels, which in turn enables and promotes new opportunities.

With these strengths, Vantaa can also be a pioneer in sustainable development – and by many standards it already is. This pioneering position can be further strengthened by making an even stronger commitment to promoting comprehensive sustainable development in all operations. In this way, we can harness both internal and external collaboration and the innovations that arise from it to support comprehensive and long-term sustainable development both locally and globally.

Research cooperation related to sustainable development can also be increased in Vantaa. This cooperation can take place through projects, for example. Vantaa aims to make development more strategic through projects and increase cross-administrative cooperation, as described in this report. In this development, it is important to consider the long-term sustainable development goals comprehensively.

In addition to project cooperation, there is still much potential for broader impact and promotion of sustainability in other stakeholder cooperation. This includes business cooperation, the broad involvement of local residents in sustainable development work and supporting the responsible actions of local residents and stakeholders.

The anniversary year dialogues presented in this report show that the residents consider sustainable development to be important and approach its various aspects in a practical way through their own living environment. In participatory work, this interest can be seized and sustainable development perspectives can be incorporated into participatory work. This can influence attitudes and practices and increase the local residents’ agency in terms of sustainability.

From a sustainable development perspective, overconsumption is a significant problem throughout Finland, and influencing it is challenging for municipalities. However, we can make a difference by increasing information, influencing attitudes and enabling a circular and sharing economy, for example. This is where the potential of participatory work and continuous learning can be put to wider use. In Vantaa, children and young people are raised to be environmentally aware from early childhood, which is essential for the future. However, efforts can be made to influence the attitudes of residents of all ages more broadly than is currently the case.

Vantaa is engaged in active business cooperation, which has great potential to support companies’ own responsibility and harness business and innovation activities to solve sustainable development challenges. If we think of sustainable development as a common issue and goal for the entire urban area, we must also pay attention to the types of business we want to support. This is important throughout Finland. According to Finland’s National Sustainable Development Strategy, the central role of economic growth should be challenged at the national level and natural capital and human capital should be increasingly brought to the core of economic thinking.

Innovations and new technologies, including artificial intelligence, have the potential to solve major global problems and advance sustainable development when leveraged for this purpose. Business cooperation in Vantaa has the potential to make us consider how we can get companies and their innovation activities to support sustainable development more strongly than they currently do and solve the local and global challenges that are presented in this report. It is also worth paying attention to how new technologies are used responsibly within our own organisation.

One of the areas of change identified in Finland’s National Sustainable Development Strategy is an economy and working life that promote well-being, as well as sustainable consumption. Working life has many impacts on people’s well-being and all aspects of sustainable development. Employee well-being, work-life balance and the agency of employees and work communities in promoting the sustainability transition are themes that still need to be addressed in the Finnish context. In the vitality work being carried out in Vantaa, it would be possible to take these issues into account more broadly than before and consider work and business activities from a broader sustainability perspective.

The city itself is also a significant employer, employing approximately 8,000 people. The city’s own personnel can also be viewed more broadly as a community that promotes sustainable development both internally and externally, which includes employee well-being, working practices and community spirit.