Finnish Association for Nature Conservation’s Ympäristöavaus award to Lappeenranta

The Mayor of Lappeenranta Kimmo Jarva (on the left) and the Managing Director of Lappeenrannan Energia Reijo Kolehmainen signed and EKOenergy agreement for 2017–2020 on 21 April 2016. The EKOenergy certificate granted to the City of Lappeenranta was handed over at the signing ceremony.

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation grants the Ympäristöavaus award 2016 to the City of Lappeenranta for switching to EKOenergy. EKOenergy is the only ecolabel for electricity used in Finland and Europe with publicly available production criteria as well as third-party monitoring independent of the electricity market.

The environmental awards granted by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation were handed over on Saturday, 27 August, in Nuuksio, at the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia.

The Ympäristöavaus award has been granted since 2010. The Vice President of Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Sirkku Manninen emphasises that by switching to EKOenergy, Lappeenranta is providing a good example for other cities.

– The city of Lappeenranta is known as a developer of advanced technologies based on green values and as a hub of high-level competence. Switching to EKOenergy is another encouraging step in the same direction, says Manninen.

The city of Lappeenranta entered into an EKOenergy agreement with Lappeenrannan Energia Oy on 21 April 2016. This means that from the beginning of 2017, only EKOenergy certified Metsävoima (forest power) and Tuulivoima (wind power) will be used at the city’s properties. The agreement is valid until 2020.

The Mayor of Lappeenranta Kimmo Jarva accepts the award.

By switching to EKOenergy, Lappeenranta takes a major leap towards the target of reducing its CO2 emissions by 80% from the 2007 level by 2030. By choosing to go green, we can improve the status and cleanliness of our environment, as well as stimulate green business activities, thus improving the employment opportunities in the region, Jarva envisages.

Spurred by the university and network cooperation, the city of Lappeenranta has been whole-heartedly promoting green technology, climate protection, the circular economy and resource wisdom in recent years. Among other measures, the city has participated in SITRA’s Towards resource wisdom project.

As a result of fairing well in the WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge, Lappeenranta has been selected twice as Finland’s National Earth Hour Capital – also in 2016.

Lappeenrannan Energia Oy’s EKOenergy certified electricity generated with forest and wind power has met the strict European criteria for the production of ecological electricity. Many cities in Europe are already using renewable energy but reportedly Lappeenranta is the first city in the world to also adopt sustainability criteria for the procurement of electricity.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

City of Lappeenranta
Mayor Kimmo Jarva
tel. +358 40 844 2000
kimmo.jarva@lappeenranta.fi

Lappeenrannan Energia Oy
Managing Director Reijo Kolehmainen
tel. +358 40 548 6360
reijo.kolehmainen@lreoy.fi

Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
Vice President Sirkku Manninen
tel. +358 40 563 1546
sirkku.manninen@helsinki.fi

EKOenergy Programme Manager Riku Eskelinen
tel. +358 50 572 7782
riku.eskelinen@sll.fi

www.ekoenergy.org/fi