The municipality of South Karelia is a part of the Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities network HINKU that is committed to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2007 levels by 2030. The HINKU network brings together those who are committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and aim for climate change mitigation. In Finnish, HINKU is short for ‘hiilineutraali kunta’ which translates to a carbon neutral municipality.
Lappeenranta is the climate capital of Finland, one of the greenest cities in Europe and also a winner of Green Leaf 2021. Green Leaf is an award granted by the European Commission to recognize cities in Europe for their environmental achievements.
In Imatra climate work is taken into account in various sectors. Some examples aiming at carbon neutral activity are the electric buses used in public transportation and the school centre of Mansikkala that is built from wood.
Lappeenranta–Lahti University of Technology (LUT) aims to make its campus in Lappeenranta carbon negative by 2024 and produces some of the electricity it needs using solar energy.
Read more about goSaimaa and their aims to work towards sustainability.
Sources (read 30th September 2021) and additional information:
hiilineutraalisuomi.fi
greenreality.fi
imatra.fi
lut.fi
