For residents & visitors
How can I trust the Think Sustainably Service?
Finns demands that companies act in a socially and economically responsible manner, and they also share a high level of trust in society and Finnish institutions. This level of trust is a key reason why Finland has been named the happiest country in the world 6 years in a row to date. In turn, we trust that businesses and services who are motivated to apply to join the service, are equally motivated and able to make their own assessments. Giving feedback is also a very important aspect of the service and it’s something that we openly encourage residents and visitors to do, to help maintain the high standards of the service criteria.
What else is Helsinki doing with regards to sustainability?
Helsinki wants to be a city at the forefront of sustainable development, now and in the future, and is strongly committed to sustainability – including social, ecological, economic and cultural sustainability. For more information, you can hop over to Helsinki’s Sustainable Development Plan page.
Why isn’t this business / service / event in the Think Sustainably Service?
If a business, service or event isn’t a participant in the Think Sustainably Service, they might have already applied and didn’t meet the criteria (yet!) or they may not be aware of the service. If you strongly feel that a particular business, service or event should be part of the Think Sustainably Service, we recommend that you offer feedback to them directly, suggesting that they apply to join the service. Further information for applicants can be found on our participants page.
How can I give feedback on the sustainability of companies?
If a you notice that one or more criteria are not met in the case of certain Think Sustainably Service participants, you have the chance to give your feedback through our feedback page. The feedback is processed by Helsinki Partners who will get in touch with the participant in question. The service providers are then given the chance to improve their actions accordingly. After this, their further participation in the service is evaluated accordingly. We are unable to provide any updates to your feedback during this process.
For Think Sustainably Service applicants and participants
How can I participate in the service as a business / service / event?
Find out more about how to apply to participate in the Think Sustainably Service on our participants page.
How can I get my place to MyHelsinki.fi?
You can add your place to MyHelsinki.fi from the City Platform website, the link for which can also be found from the footer of any MyHelsinki page. Places added here will then be transferred to MyHelsinki within a couple of days.
How can I get my event to MyHelsinki.fi?
You can add your event to MyHelsinki.fi from the Linked Events website, the link for which can also be found from the footer of any MyHelsinki page. Events added here will then be transferred to MyHelsinki within a couple of days.
How can I update my place / event on MyHelsinki?
You can update information regarding your place via the City Platform website. Events can be updated through the Linked Events website.
Why isn’t my place / event showing on MyHelsinki?
When registering your event / place, it can take up to a couple of days for everything to be processed. If, after this period of time your place / event still isn’t showing, then please get in touch with one of the following for further support:
For events: Linked Events support
For places: Helsinki Tourist Information
My event is in the service this year, how can I apply for next year’s event to be part of the service already?
It’s great to hear you’re already thinking ahead! Each event needs to have its own page on MyHelsinki before it can display a Think Sustainably score and green label. You can register your future event on the Linked Events website, then continue to make an application to join the Think Sustainably service.
There’s no way my business / service / event can fulfill all the criteria, why are they even there?
The Think Sustainably criteria have been developed to encompass a wide variety of actors here in Helsinki. Each actor has their own challenges when it comes to sustainability and although some criteria may not be possible to fulfil in their entirety for all actors, we believe there is at least always room to improve on a wide range of other criteria within each category. The idea is always to allow for maximum possible participation. If you would like to give specific feedback regarding any of the criteria, please do so via our feedback page . Your feedback in invaluable for us when we come to review the criteria for the service and we would love to hear from you.
The story behind the Think Sustainably Service and the criteria
What is the Think Sustainably service?
Think Sustainably is a digital service launched in 2019 that helps to choose more sustainable ways to live in and enjoy Helsinki. It filters content from the MyHelsinki.fi website to suggest sustainable services, such as restaurants, shops, sights, events, and accommodation.
The base of the service is in tailor-made criteria for the city of Helsinki that have been developed together with the independent think tank Demos Helsinki, along with local interest groups and sustainability experts. The criteria emphasise ecological sustainability and especially combatting climate change, yet also take into account other dimensions of environmental and social sustainability.
The criteria were updated during the course of 2020 to take social and cultural sustainability more into account. The criteria for environmental sustainability have also been updated to better meet current requirements and to drive local businesses to operate even more responsibly.
The service providers who have met the required criteria are marked with a green tag and website visitors can examine in more detail which criteria were fulfilled and which were not. The purpose is not to pinpoint who are the straight-A students, but rather to encourage different operators to find an impressive array of solutions that encourage customers and visitors to engage in more sustainable lifestyles.
Why was the service developed?
Climate change affects us all. Combatting it is not the task of a small minority – nor is it their privilege. The world will change and each one of us participates in this change. We all have the right to find our own way to make an impact. No task is too small. Action is needed right now on every single front.
Helsinki is committed to promoting a more sustainable way of life, for everyone, because we understand that true impact can only happen when a group big and diverse enough becomes part of greater change through their own actions.
We want to make room for new types of thinking and lifestyles. We want to be a city where we all learn about a better way of life, where everyone can learn and innovate together – in a city where we do not fear making mistakes along the way. We hope that others can also learn from our experiments.
Helsinki has not yet reached the end of its journey, but we are ready and willing to make great efforts to pursue sustainability. This is why we are inviting everyone to share their own best practices and to encourage one another to make more sustainable choices: to define together what good living means today and in the future.
MyHelsinki.fi's Think Sustainably service helps consumers to choose sustainable service providers and encourages very different players to focus their efforts on sustainable actions.
Who is the Think Sustainably service aimed towards?
The service is meant for MyHelsinki.fi website users, local citizens and visitors alike. The service is open to all local service providers who fulfil the minimum requirements for the criteria within the six service categories: Attractions, Restaurants, cafés and bars, Shops, Accommodation, Events and Venues.
How has Helsinki committed to pursuing sustainable development?
In its city strategy, Helsinki has defined a vision to be a smoothly functioning and beautiful city based on sustainable growth to support good living. The aim is to constantly be a little bit better in everything, always in a responsible and sustainable way. That a functional and an ever better day-to-day in Helsinki is visible through concrete acts, choices and proposals in everyday life.
Cities have a significant role in looking for the right answers to the challenges we’re facing, and have their part to play in finding the solutions to the climate crisis that directly impacts everyday life. The ability of cities to guide, develop and solve practical aspects related to climate change is central in reaching global climate goals.
Helsinki was the first city to follow New York in committing to the voluntary city-level reporting initiative following the UN's sustainable development goals. The aim of the reporting is to make visible Helsinki's efforts to address the 2030 Agenda. Helsinki's first report was handed over to the UN in 2019. Helsinki initiated city-level reporting on sustainable development for the second time in 2021 and again in 2023. On a global level, climate change is one of the most critical powers of change. Helsinki underlines sustainable choices and takes its responsibility in combatting climate change seriously. Helsinki actively builds collaborations with central international networks such as the C40, functions as a prototyping platform for scalable experiments, produces independent solutions, and takes an active role at the international forums where new solutions are created.
Find out more about the City of Helsinki’s Sustainable Development Plan here.
What criteria is the service based on?
We believe that every service provider is ready for improvement – and this is why we wish to offer tools and a platform for each and every company to function even more sustainably. The criteria can be used as a set of tools to develop operations.
The base of the service is in tailor-made criteria for the City of Helsinki that have been developed together with the independent think tank Demos Helsinki, along with local interest groups and sustainability experts. The criteria emphasise ecological sustainability, especially combatting climate change, yet also take into account other dimensions of environmental and social sustainability. By meeting the minimum requirements of one's respective service category, the service provider gets to qualify and participate in the Think Sustainably service.
The different service categories include between 9 - 25 criteria, along with a set minimum amount of criteria to fulfil. Some criteria are more easily met than others, while others need more persistent, long-term efforts (for example carbon footprint calculations and compensations).
The criteria come with explanations that reveal more about their backgrounds and serve to further guide the service providers on how to meet these criteria.
Many criteria involve, for instance, making an internal action plan, leaving the scope and ambition of the efforts as the responsibility of the service provider. Through the criteria, we can offer service providers a set of tools to use in developing activities in a more sustainable direction, and to share one's own best practices with others.
We wanted to make the criteria accessible for many kinds of operators, since everyone should have the chance to be part of a bigger change. True impact is brought about when a large and diverse group participates within it, each through their own actions.
What kinds of operators are included in the service?
At the moment, the service criteria are encompassed within the following categories:
- Restaurants, cafés and bars
- Shops
- Attractions
- Accommodation
- Events
- Venues
The service filters content from the MyHelsinki.fi website to suggest sustainable service providers. The participating businesses and organisations have evaluated their own work according to the supplied criteria and have fulfilled the minimum requirements in the respective service categories.
How have the criteria been constructed?
The criteria process was managed by think tank Demos Helsinki's experts using their lengthy experience on sustainability and responsibility. The process included benchmarking criteria used for various existing environmental labels and certificates. The team also collaborated with Visit Finland's Sustainable Travel Finland label. In addition, the process was deepened by researching the newest literature on the topic. The next step was to define the areas that have the most environmental impact: for instance, in the Restaurants category this was food. Experts from different fields then commented on the first draft, and the second round of comments involved 20 operators.
The criteria were updated during the course of 2020 to take social and cultural sustainability more into account. The criteria for environmental sustainability have also been updated to better meet current requirements and to drive local businesses to operate even more responsibly. The updated criteria were launched in 2021. The aim is to re-evaluate the criteria regularly.
What is the impact of the criteria?
The starting point for the criteria was to make them accessible to very different operators ranging from small cafés to large hotels, as everyone needs to have the same opportunity to be part of a larger story of change. The service providers can to a certain extent themselves decide how they wish to promote sustainability. This makes the fulfilment of the criteria more possible and motivating also for smaller operators. We believe this promotes the greater impact of the criteria.
How is the fulfilment of the criteria monitored?
There is no auditing process for the criteria, as their fulfilment is left on a trust-based agreement with the service providers. Trust is how we roll in Helsinki. In this way, the relevance of customer feedback is highlighted. The MyHelsinki.fi website offers a visible and easy way to leave feedback on the sustainability work of different operators. The feedback is however, not published, and is instead delivered directly to Helsinki Partners, who look after the service. The team goes through the feedback on a regular basis, internally, as well as with the operators in question. The service providers are given the chance to improve their actions accordingly. If an operator repeatedly receives negative feedback on their sustainability efforts, their participation in the service can be withdrawn after thorough review.
If there is no auditing, how can you be sure that the service providers fulfill the criteria?
Consumers today are highly aware and service providers should see sustainability as part of their own business. Evaluating one's own activities starts from one's own motivation, and we trust that companies are able to make their own assessments. In Finland, certain sustainability actions are already required by law, and Finnish society demands that companies act in a socially and economically responsible manner. This already lays the foundations for steady self-evaluation. In addition, consumers have the opportunity to give their own feedback to service providers. The criteria are re-evaluated regularly.