University of Helsinki preparing new sustainability and responsibility plan for 2025 to 2028

The University of Helsinki has begun to prepare its new sustainability and responsibility plan for the period 2025–2028. The goals included in the plan will be based on the University’s strategic objective of being a leader in sustainability and responsibility. However, this objective requires the participation of the community. 

“The University now has the opportunity and duty to help create a more sustainable future both locally and globally. We can make a difference through our research, teaching and public engagement as well as the everyday actions of our extensive community,” says Vice-Rector Anne Portaankorva, who leads the University’s sustainability and responsibility work.  

Building on what we have 

The new plan will be aligned with the current sustainability and responsibility plan 2022–2024, aiming to integrate the themes more effectively into all University operations. We will continue to contribute to the development of an increasingly sustainable future through research, teaching and public engagement. In addition, everyday actions play an important role in the new plan too – after all, the University is a community of 40,000 individuals. As before, the measures in the plan will be outlined and monitored at the senior leadership and administrative levels, for example, through annual reports.  

The new plan will remain committed to not only the University’s values – truth, Bildung, freedom and inclusivity – and strategic objectives, but also the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UNIFI theses on sustainable development and responsibility.  

In line with the previous plan, the new one will describe the key measures for sustainability and responsibility, not all the measures taken across the University. You can read both the current plan and annual reports on our sustainability and responsibility work in recent years. 

Community engagement 

The preparation of the plan began in autumn 2023 by reviewing the current situation, for example, by surveying what we have done for sustainability and responsibility so far and what we will do in 2024.   

Getting started with workshops for unit and faculty leadership 

In late 2023 and January 2024, the leadership of the University units and faculties as well as members of the sustainability and responsibility committee participated in workshops to consider the current status of the University’s activities and summarise future goals, for example, by conducting a materiality analysis. The purpose was to clarify the focus areas of, and key measures for, the upcoming implementation planning period, thus helping units determine their own measures. 

“Although the plan is still at the development stage, it’s evident that the leadership is committed to working for the University’s continued status as a leader in sustainability and responsibility in the years to come,” says Portaankorva. 

Comments sought from all community members 

Both staff and students can discuss and comment on the new plan at a meeting of the sustainability and responsibility network on 7 March 2024. The meeting will include a review of the current status of the University’s sustainability and responsibility work and discussion of its future. Read more about the network meeting in this Flamma news item and sign up.  

New plan to be completed in autumn 2024 

The information collected and recorded in the spring as well as the measures outlined will be presented at a leadership seminar in May and to the University management group in September. The goal is to publish the new plan in late 2024.  

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