Jyväskylä City Resource Wisdom Program
About this good practice
Resource wisdom has been one of the spearheads of the Jyväskylä city's strategy since 2013. In 2015 we made an official commitment, a roadmap to resource wisdom. Jyväskylä aims at carbon neutrality by 2030 and by 2040 zero waste, no over-exploitation of natural resources and sustainable well-being of residents. The first resource wisdom program was launched in 2019, and it has been updated regularly.
The program signposts the resource-wise work of the city’s organisation, businesses and subsidiaries, from goals to implementation and monitoring. It is based on both national and international commitments and plans, as well as broad-based cooperation in the city organization.
The program consists of seven themes and includes the goals for 2030, the monitoring indicators for their realisation and 180 concrete measures for the current council term. Measures, for example carbon free energy production, public transportation or increasing protected areas for nature, are implemented mainly by city’s organisation and subsidiaries. Monitoring and communication is carried out with Environmental Watch Service, which allows the city to report transparently on-line.
Themes of the Program:
- Low-carbon energy production and effective energy use
- Sustainable community structure and construction
- Sustainabe transit system
- Adaptation to impacts of climate change
- Resource-wise consumption and circular economy
- Diverse environment
- Resource wisdom in everyday life
Resources needed
The program is planned and implemented by city’s organisation; all are involved. The city council approves the program in every four years. Resources are allocated on yearly budgets. City’s 3+1 resource wisdom team coordinates resource wisdom work but does not conduct implementation.
Evidence of success
The carbon neutrality goal of Jyväskylä is based on reference year of 2007. CO2-eq emissions have reduced by 47 % during 2007-2022. From 180 measures 26,6 % in total (6/2024) are completed – we have approximately 74 % yet to cover by 2025.
Monitoring and reporting is done by Environmental Watch Service, which bases on MS Office 365 platform and when data is updated in MS office tools the Environmental Watch websites are automatically updated too.
Potential for learning or transfer
The important point with the program implementation is, that the work is spread through city’s organisation and subsidiaries. The update of the program is coordinated by the 3-person team and experts from each units and subsidiaries were involved in the process. It is important to realise how much time is needed: the whole updating took one year, of which the elaboration of targets, indicators and measures 6 months.
The implementation and concrete measures of resource wisdom are prepared and adopted by the people in units and city’s subsidiaries independently. This increases commitment and ownership of the activities and is seen as the best way to carry the program forward in the city. The Resource Wisdom Program is financed by the city organisation and subsidiaries and the co-operation with the City’s residents, businesses and communities is done mainly on projects and on project funding.
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