We are seeking partners to help create a sustainable and nature-friendly Espoo – apply to join us!

Climate change and biodiversity loss are one of the greatest environmental crises of our time, and they require rapid action also at the local level. To address this challenge, the Sustainable and Nature-friendly Espoo development programme (in Finnish) has been established. It allows both the city organisation and partners to participate in halting biodiversity loss, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and curbing the overconsumption of natural resources.

“The development programmes are platforms for collaboration, development and piloting that are used to find innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges of our time, such as halting biodiversity loss,” says Tiina Elo, Member of Parliament and City Councillor (Green Party), who chairs the Sustainable and Nature-friendly Espoo development programme in 2025–2029.

“However, we cannot solve these challenges alone. That’s why we invite partners to join us in this work!”

During the council term, the development programme will implement several development projects and measures, together with the partners. The goal is that the lessons learned from the pilots and the new solutions can be utilised more widely in the work of the city and its partners in the future.

To collect collaboration proposals, the Sustainable and Nature-friendly Espoo development programme launches an open call.

“We want to give all partners an equal opportunity to propose development ideas. The aim is to collect as many different proposals as possible at once, from which we select the best ones for further processing. This is how we strive to allocate the programme’s resources in the best possible way,” explains Elo.

Ideas can be submitted until 24 February 2026. After this, the development ideas will be further developed together with the city’s representatives. During March-April, the programme group will decide which ideas will move forward for further development.

Submit your development idea using the form: https://link.webropol.com/s/kestavajaluonnonlaheinen-ideahaku(external link, opens in a new window)

“Anyone can propose a development idea for the development programme and the city. We encourage all active residents, associations, companies and even research institutes to consider what actions can advance the sustainability transition in Espoo and Finland,” says Elo.

Development programmes are given concrete goals, which are used to evaluate the success of the programme work. The programme group of the Sustainable and Nature-friendly Espoo development programme has decided to propose the following objectives for approval by the City Council:

1. Increasing biodiversity and urban green.
2. Strengthening Espoo residents’ relationship with nature and improving opportunities for recreation in nature.
3. More sustainable living and consumption among Espoo residents.
4. Mainstreaming low-carbon construction and circular economy in construction in Espoo.

More detailed descriptions of the benefit objectives can be found in the Sustainable and nature-friendly Espoo website (in Finnish). The city council will decide on the final objectives, on 23 February 2026.

The development programme can support and implement various types of development from small-scale actions to project-type development, which correspond to one or more of the objectives of the programme. The programme has an annual budget of approximately €160,000.