Environmentally sustainable partnership

Meeting sustainable development goals requires cooperation with customers, subcontractors and other interest groups. The Port of Helsinki wants to do its part to advance the entire port industry and encourage its partners to reduce their own environmental impact with the means at its disposal.

Sustainable investments

The Port of Helsinki is a major developer and infrastructure manager. By reducing carbon dioxide emissions during construction and building use, the negative climate impact caused by the Port’s operations can be significantly reduced. In accordance with the Port’s strategy, the focus of investments has been on projects that reduce environmental impact and improve the energy efficiency of port operations.

  • The Port piloted the Ministry of the Environment’s carbon footprint calculation model in the planning and implementation of the construction project of the Finnish Food Authority’s border inspection post built at Vuosaari Harbour.
  • Development work has continued in cooperation with Green Building Council Finland (FIGBC). FIGBC organised a workshop on carbon neutrality in construction for those working in the Port’s construction, in which low-carbon construction calculation models were applied to the Port of Helsinki’s projects.

The Port aims to be able to assess the so-called carbon spike in the future, i.e. the effect on the climate caused by emissions from the extraction of materials required for new construction, their transport and the construction itself. These assessments will be taken into account in investment decisions.

Reuse and reduction of ship-generated waste

Ship-generated waste is divided into solid waste, oily waste and waste water. Additionally, many vessels sort their solid waste into different waste types, which can be recycled at the harbour.

The recycling of plastic for reuse is a challenge for our entire society, not just for port operations, which is why the Port has chosen its development for special monitoring in our area of operation.

Responsible procurement

The Port of Helsinki promotes business that supports sustainable development in cooperation with its customers and subcontractors. The procurement process is being developed to make it easier to take environmental criteria and the carbon footprint of procurement into account. Supplier and contract management as well as supplier evaluation are also being further developed.

  • In the spring, a thesis commissioned by the Port was completed, which dealt with the carbon footprint and climate impact of procurement. The results of the thesis will be utilised in the development of the procurement process to make it easier to take environmental criteria and the carbon footprint of procurement into account.
    Read more about the thesis.
  • In addition to this, the Port of Helsinki cooperates with its contract partners to develop their operations in a more responsible direction. Supplier and contract management as well as supplier evaluation are being further developed to also evaluate the performance of suppliers and subcontractors in the areas of environmental and social responsibility. The price, quality and quality systems of services and products will also be evaluated.

The preparations for the updated evaluation procedure started in 2020.