Sustainable Development in Finland

Finland's national strategy for sustainable development "Towards sustainable choises. Nationally and globally sustainble Finaland" was adopted in June 2006 by the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development

The characteristic feature of the Finnish national sustainable development policy is a wide-reaching participation of various societal actors both in the definition of the contents and implementation of the measures. The approach is already referred to as the "Finnish model", in which broad-based, multi-stakeholder participation is combined with high-level political leadership.

Since the late 1980's, Finland has strived to enhance the role of sustainable development in mainstream politics. The Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development has been working continuously since 1993. Led by the Prime Ministers for 14 years until recently, it has brought into the limelight of national debate several important themes of sustainable development. Four national policy documents for sustainable development have been prepared and endorsed and, beside the newest one from 2006, also implemented and assessed.

Beside environmental considerations, the social, cultural and economical aspects of sustainable development have increasingly gained foothold in Finland. One of the ultimate aims is to consider impacts of sustainable development in an integrative way and, consequently, enable the materialization of the potential win-win-win opportunities in building up a sustainable society.

Finnish municipalities are also active in promoting sustainable development. In 2007, two thirds of the Finnish municipalities had either established or were in the process of establishing their own local agenda 21.