Expert Panel for Sustainable Development

The Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development – the Sustainability Panel – is an independent scientific panel tasked with promoting sustainable development in Finland. 

The Sustainability Panel provides a research-based understanding to support decision-making and public debate affecting sustainable development in Finland. Its work aims to promote the coordination of complex environmental, economic and social issues. The panel’s special task is to support the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development, an influential forum consisting of decision-makers in society under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

The panel consists of fifteen experts representing different disciplines, universities and research institutes.

Members of the 2023–2025 Sustainability Panel 

Aarikka-Stenroos, Leena University of Tampere
Halme Minna, Aalto University School of Business
Iho Antti, Natural Resources Institute Finland
Jaakkola Jouni, University of Oulu
Kaljonen Minna, Finnish Environment Institute
Kinnunen Päivi, Technical Research Centre of Finland
Linnanen Lassi, Lappeenranta–Lahti University of Technology
Mönkkönen Mikko, University of Jyväskylä
Rajinen Ilkka, University of Lapland
Salonen Arto, University of Eastern Finland
Siivonen Katriina, Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku
Soini Katriina, Natural Resources Institute Finland
Soininen Niko, University of Eastern Finland
Teperi Anna-Maria, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
Toivanen Reetta, University of Helsinki

The Sustainability Panel is chaired by Professor of Environmental Management and Economics Lassi Linnanen, who served as Vice-Chair of the panel during its previous term. 

In selecting experts for the panel, the goal is to have as many scientific disciplines represented as possible. Proposals for members of the panel were requested from universities and research institutes, as well as from other research organisations by open invitation. The members of the panel were selected so that the different perspectives of sustainability science and sustainable development would be represented as comprehensively as possible. 

Responsibility for coordination of the panel transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office
The Government appointed the 2023–2025 Sustainability Panel on 15 December 2022, and from 2023 onwards, the panel will serve as an independent scientific body within the Prime Minister’s Office. In their work on the panel, the members serve as independent experts, not as official representatives of their background organisations.

The previous responsible organisations, HELSUS, the Natural Resource Institute Finland and the Finnish Environment Institute, will continue to support the panel’s coordination work through the scientific secretariat in 2023. Since spring 2023, Secretary-General Johanna Kentala-Lehtonen from the Prime Minister’s Office has been responsible for coordinating the work of the panel.

Secretary-General 
Johanna Kentala-Lehtonen

More information: https://www.kestavyyspaneeli.fi/en/