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Sitra’s new resource efficiency project in Jyväskylä

Sitra is teaming up with the central Finnish city Jyväskylä to launch a project aiming to get better value from natural resources, while at the same time improving the economy.

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Johanna Kirkinen

Leading Specialist, Ecological sustainability, D.Sc. (Tech.), The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra

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The project aims to develop a regional resource efficiency calculation and operating model which can then be applied in other Finnish cities.

In 2013, Sitra and the City of Jyväskylä will launch a new project aimed at promoting more efficient and relevant use of resources, improving the regional economy and reducing the environmental impacts of operations. The project will consist of a number of experiments and pilot operations.

The general objective of the project is to help companies find sustainable successes and new competitive advantages through business synergies. People will be able to achieve ecological sustainability in their lives and have the opportunity to develop resource-efficient operations in their home towns. The state will receive new methods and tools to improve national resource efficiency. A calculation and operating model for regional resource efficiency will be developed and offered to other Finnish cities and towns for application.

“We aim to create a municipal operating model to increase cooperation, create new jobs and promote economic success while ensuring more efficient utilisation of natural resources,” says leading specialist Johanna Kirkinen from Sitra.

Motiva estimates that more efficient use of raw materials alone could save up to EUR 7 billion for Finnish industrial companies each year.

The scarcity of natural resources, growing population and climate change are forcing societies around the globe to become more efficient and to cut their emissions. Recycling-based economies, energy efficiency and cooperation between companies to save raw materials are becoming everyday activities. Resource efficiency is becoming an international asset in competition.

“Jyväskylä is proud to be in the frontline of change together with Sitra, enabling economic growth and the well-being of people and the environment. The Kangas area in Jyväskylä will play a central role in the project,” says Mayor Markku Andersson.

Sitra and the City of Jyväskylä will provide more details on the new project at the beginning of 2013.

Visit www.sitra.fi/en/resource-efficiency to find out about the progress of the project.

Further information:

Leading specialist Johanna Kirkinen, Sitra,  tel. +358 40 186 7107
Mayor Markku Andersson, City of Jyväskylä, tel. +358 14 266 1501

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