The City of Helsinki found ways to mitigate climate change through procurement 

With the completion of the Canemure project in October, the City of Helsinki’s procurement specialists are now even more skilled at integrating sustainability into their work. The lessons learned from the project will help cities reduce climate impact through procurement. 

The six-year Canemure project, coordinated by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), concluded in October. The project received funding from the European Union’s LIFE programme, and the City of Helsinki was one of the partners of the project. 

The City of Helsinki’s subproject’s aim was to find ways to reduce climate impacts through procurement. The city carried out pilot procurements in the categories of construction, food and catering services, and textiles. 

“I think we have done extremely well in reaching our goal. We found ways to reduce the climate impact across all the procurement categories we worked on,” says Satu Turula, Environmental Specialist for the City of Helsinki, who served as the project coordinator when Canemure began. 

The City of Helsinki’s Procurement Director, Jorma Lamminmäki, shares this sentiment. Lamminmäki, who leads the city’s procurement and tendering unit, was part of the Canemure steering group from the start. 

“Having seen all kinds of projects over my long career, I can say that Canemure has definitely been one of the most successful, both in terms of results and management. The money invested in the project has truly delivered tangible results,” says Lamminmäki. 

So, what kind of results did Canemure deliver? For example, in Palvelukeskus Helsinki’s workwear (pdf) procurement, the project enhanced understanding of resource-efficient, life cycle-aware procurement methods, and led to the development of a tool to calculate the life cycle impacts of workwear procurement. 

In the planning of Hämeentie street renovation located in Arabia district (pdf), resource-efficient design was found to bring significant savings both financially and in terms of emissions. The savings were achieved through material recycling, reuse, and running a low-emission construction site, where site operations, machinery and heavy hauling equipment are powered by renewable diesel and green electricity. 

The insights from the project’s nine pilot procurements have been summarised in case studies, which are freely accessible on the City of Helsinki’s website. These case studies describe the procurement processes, criteria used, and challenges encountered in the pilot projects. 

The Canemure project also resulted in an online course focused on low-carbon procurement. The open access course is aimed at people involved in public procurement both in Finland and internationally. 

Cities as major buyers can promote low-carbon practices 

Public sector procurement criteria, particularly those used by cities, have a substantial impact on mitigating climate change across society. For instance, with nearly five billion euros in annual purchases, the City of Helsinki is the largest organisation in Finland making public procurements. 

“The city is the perfect-sized player. We’re practical and closely connected to people’s daily lives, but at the same time, we have a major influence on the market through our procurement activities,” explains Turula. 

What do sustainable procurement criteria look like? Transport emissions, for example, can be reduced by setting criteria related to vehicles’ Euro emission standards and energy sources, such as electricity or renewable diesel. 

In food and catering procurement, key considerations include nutritional guidelines, animal welfare, and biodiversity. From a climate perspective, a significant factor is whether red meat or dairy products are offered at all. 

“For example, in food procurement, Canemure has had a notable impact, not just on the City of Helsinki’s own operations but also on how sustainability is factored in at the national level,” says Turula. 

Cities should make greater use of market dialogue  

Turula emphasises that networking and incorporating stakeholders’ views from the outset were critical to the project’s success. 

“At the start, we approached procurement units and those responsible for purchasing. We introduced ourselves personally and made connections. Alongside internal networking within the city, we attended various national and international events to present our project. We really invested in stakeholder engagement, and it’s paid off,” Turula explains. 

The City of Helsinki organises market dialogues, which Canemure also utilised. Broadly speaking, there were two types of dialogues: some were tied to specific procurements, while others were more general and related to developing new solutions. For example, in the food sector, dialogues focused on plant-based proteins and new types of fish dishes. 

“Things are evolving so rapidly that cities constantly have more to learn from the market and businesses. Cities could definitely benefit from making greater use of market dialogue,” Turula suggests. 

From carbon footprint to overall responsibility  

In recent years, the focus of procurement has broadened from the carbon footprint to overall responsibility. This encompasses economic, social, and competitive factors, as well as biodiversity considerations. Biodiversity, for instance, can be supported by following WWF’s seafood guide, as was done in the Urban Environment Division’s restaurant services procurement pilot (pdf). 

“The carbon footprint alone doesn’t work well as a procurement criterion. Once we expanded the perspective to overall responsibility, it made the criteria development process much smoother,” explains Turula. 

Sustainability in procurement is advancing rapidly, and procurement specialists need to stay alert to keep up with the changes. However, the City of Helsinki and its procurement specialists are in an excellent position to integrate overall responsibility into their work. 

“I can say with confidence that sustainability is now second nature to the City of Helsinki’s procurement specialists. Of course, sustainability issues were already factored in at a good level before Canemure, but there’s been significant improvement in recent years,” says Turula, who has observed the change closely in various roles over the years. 

Both Turula and Lamminmäki encourage procurement specialists to approach climate issues with an open mind, as they can be integrated into procurement just like any other considerations. 

“It’s not rocket science,” concludes Turula.