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angle-left The City of Joensuu won the Green Pioneer 2019 prize
 

The City of Joensuu won the Green Pioneer 2019 prize

07.05.2019 10:33

The city of Joensuu was awarded as the Green Pioneer of 2019 by MuniFin (Municipality Finance Plc). It is a recognition for inspirational environmental acts and setting an example in environmentally friendly construction. 

– With this award, we want to highlight actors that have set ambitious goals and have integrated environmental thinking into all their operations, says Esa Kallio, the CEO of MuniFin.

Comprehensive environmental thinking 

Environmental targets are included in the city strategy of Joensuu. Climate issues are considered in all planning and action. New, green energy powered schools and day-care centres funded by MuniFin’s green financing are concrete examples of environmental thinking in everyday life.

– In Joensuu, environmental thinking affects everything. The city has brought together citizens, businesses and public operators. A great example of this is the Climate Conscious Blocks project, in which the city pilots new green solutions and develops green entrepreneurship together with the citizens and other actors, says Rami Erkkilä from MuniFin.

The city has executed six projects with the MuniFin’s green financing.

– Joensuu has an ambitious goal of being carbon neutral in 2025. Reaching this goal requires concrete actions. We are investing in construction anyways, so why wouldn’t we take the environmental impact into account as well? The same applies to our public procurements. Last year, we considered environmental criteria in more than 90 % of our procurements, says the city manager Kari Karjalainen.

Many of the green certificate buildings are schools and day-care centres. In Karhunmäki and Nepenmäki schools the students are being encouraged to think green. They have the possibility to observe the energy and water consumption of the school through a real time monitoring system.

An art playground for the citizens of Joensuu

As the prize for being a green pioneer, MuniFin donated Joensuu an environmental artwork: a new playground next to the marketplace in the city centre. The playground was designed by Berry Creative, a Finnish company specialized in creative environmental design.