With divisions and politicisation causing headaches for local authority environmental teams in the UK, how has one of Europe’s foremost eco-towns balanced the narrative?
Turku is unarguably ahead of the curve. The Southwest Finland city, home to around 200,000 people, proudly lays claim to an enviable modern track record for climate action.
Granted, Meyer’s shipyard continues to be an emblem of the city and a reminder of how many highly polluting seafaring vessels continue to carry the town’s name on their hulls. And the coast on which it sits belongs to the Baltic, one of the most polluted bodies of tidal water anywhere on Earth. But elsewhere precedents are being set en masse.
One of 112 cities selected for the EU’s Cities Mission – essentially a race to climate neutrality in each region, like everywhere else in Finland, it uses district heating to stave off the bitter cold of Scandinavia’s winter. Here, this is fuelled by energy from waste water. Drinking water is ‘produced’ sustainably, turning artificially infiltrated H20 into clean groundwater.
Elsewhere, the Naantali Multi-Fuel Plant is reducing historic reliance on coal by turning to biofueld, Topinpuisto launched in 2016 as a circular economy hub – home to around 15 organisations, and at Skanssi a revolutionary new two-directional low-temperature heat network is being trialled. Overall, Turku has now achieved a 63% reduction in total greenhouse gas output since 1990.
Signs of this aren’t entirely buried beneath the streets and in industrial corners of town, either. Turku Region Public Transport, or Föli, operates all electric bus routes and a high quality urban bicycle network which has seen an exponential increase in use over the course of this century.
It’s something the city’s elected mayor, Minna Arve, is particularly keen to talk about after we meet in the historic central market square. A redevelopment of this centrepiece completed in 2021, when the council leader was elected, introducing a huge underground car park with extensive bike storage and EV facilities. As we’re quickly told, getting to that point was a slow process.
‘It took maybe 20 years to make that decision. But this allowed us to introduce infrastructure for cycling and walking in the centre,’ Arve tells us. ‘When I joined [the council] in 2005, the big fight was over one bicycle lane. I never understood why, it was so obvious that this was a good idea. And it was down a very wide street. So since then the conversations have changed a lot.’
Nevertheless, she admits to recognising the kinds of discussions that have dominated local planning and transport discussions in Britain since the end of the pandemic. What infrastructure do we really need in our towns and cities? Should we sacrifice space on roads for active travel? What does this mean for congestion? And the environment?
‘Maybe not so much in climate terms, but I do hear this now in terms of who owns the street,’ says Arve. ‘There are similar emotions everywhere, and this goes into cultural investment, cycling versus cars, older versus younger.’
In April, Fins go to the polls for county and municipal elections. Presidential votes were last cast in 2023, forming a coalition of Arve’s party, the National Coalition Party, the Swedish People’s Party, Christian Democrats and right wing populists the Finns Party. Suffice to say, there are many differences between the concerns of each arm’s electorate. But we’re told this isn’t playing out on environmental terms, with a relative consensus that action is needed.
Arve backs this up when we ask if there are clear lines drawn on things like emissions and climate, between political the political factions in Turku. ‘No,’ she replies, before explaining her belief that setting a systemic example has helped galvanise the local community. Over time, investments have led to tangible benefits and concerns about disruptions – for example from the construction of a cycle lane – have waned.
‘Transforming energy systems, public transport investment in things like electric buses. We offer vegetarian meals in schools. Our waste management makes it really easy to sort,’ says Arve. ‘These are systemic policies which are very effective at getting people onside. Of course, we need those very committed residents to make choices, too. But I think these systemic issues, under the council control, are even more important to set examples.
‘[For transport] it’s also important to understand both sides of the argument and that some people are never going to give up on their cars, so there needs to be that idea of sharing the street equally and still leaving options to drive,’ she continues. ‘This is related to wider transformation issues in the world. People can somehow feel let out, not accepted, and like they don’t belong anymore. That creates this polarisation and the race to populism. I always try to keep the messaging balanced… I always say I’m not a very good politician as I don’t always want to be right… many parties want it all black-and-white. For me, it’s more important to achieve real things.’
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Top image: Visit Turku