Finland's strategy for sustainable development

In March 2022, the national Commission on Sustainable Development adopted a new strategy for 2022-2030. The aim of the strategy is a prosperous and globally responsible Finland that protects the carrying capacity of nature. It is built on six areas of change that look at promoting sustainability in a systemic manner, as recommended in the global Sustainable Development Reports (2019, 2023) published by the UN. The areas of change identified as key for Finland and defined in the strategy are:

Economy and work promoting wellbeing and sustainable consumption
Education, competence and sustainable lifestyles
Wellbeing, health and social inclusion
Sustainable energy system
Food system promoting wellbeing
Forest, water and land use promoting biodiversity and carbon neutrality

In addition to these areas of change, the strategy discusses Finland's support for the global implementation of Agenda 2030.

For each area of change, the strategy includes a vision for change extending to 2030, a set of objectives concretising the visions, and a description of the key measures needed to achieve these objectives. Multi-stakeholder cooperation and a whole-of-society approach are at the heart of the strategy.

The implementation of the strategy is guided by five cross-cutting principles: 1) ensuring fairness, equality and gender equality; 2) participation and inclusion of society as a whole; 3) paying special attention to the most vulnerable (leave No one behind); 4) ensuring long-term commitment and policy coherence; and 5) taking global responsibility.

The Commission's strategy serves as a long-term target framework and tool for policy coherence work of the Commission’s members and stakeholders.

Monitoring of the strategy

The implementation of the strategy is monitored and evaluated every two years. The monitoring is based on thematic articles that observe and take note of developments in each area of change as well as Finland’s support for global Agenda2030 implementation.

The first thematic articles were prepared by Kaskas and published in January and April 2024. The content of the articles is the responsibility of Kaskas and does not necessarily represent the view of the Finnish Government.

Read the abstracts of the thematic articles here