The University of Eastern Finland has agreed to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all its operations. Sustainability and responsibility are also the key development principles for the university campuses.
The university has signed the Society’s Commitment to Sustainable Development as part of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 in Finland, and we also adhere to the SDGs through our Green Office and Fairtrade agreements.
The university’s efforts to achieve the SDGs are twofold. As a scientific community, the university’s education is based on research and evidence-based information and the impact these have on society. As a work community, the university’s day-to-day operations support the achievement of the SDGs. We develop the university campuses and operations with the aim of minimising their impact on the environment.
In accordance with its Climate Action Plan, the university is committed to taking action to mitigate the effects of climate change with the goal of the university becoming carbon neutral by 2025.
UEF news about sustainability, environment and natural resources
Sustainable university
The University of Eastern Finland has specified sustainable development as one of its guiding principles. All aspects of sustainable development – ecological, social, financial, and cultural – are taken into account at the university. Our operations are governed by the principles of equality and non-discrimination, and openness and accountability are also promoted in communications.
Sustainability and responsibility are embedded in the university’s strategy and in its performance and quality management systems. Sustainable development at the university is coordinated by the Advisory Board for Sustainable Development. The university’s Quality Coordinator and the persons responsible for quality at each unit are in charge of the practical implementation of sustainable development efforts.
The areas in which the university has the most impact on the environment are energy consumption, mobility, food, and the sorting of waste and other materials.
The university’s actions taken with its cooperation partners and other actors to mitigate the impact on the environment are a continuous process. Here are some examples of the efforts and actions.
The first solar panels were installed at the University of Eastern Finland Kuopio Campus in the summer 2016.
There are 78 solar panels with the peak power of 260 WP (Watt peak) each installed on the roof of the Melania building. The total combined capacity of the panel system is 20.28 kWp. In 2019, the solar panels generated 14,500 kWh of solar energy, which is equivalent to approximately 80 per cent of the energy need of an electrically heated 120 square metre single-family detached house. The university has also assessed other potential locations for solar panels on its campuses.
The university uses 100% renewable electricity.
As of 2018, the University of Eastern Finland has been using electricity that is 100 per cent generated from renewable energy sources. The total consumption of energy in 2019 was 20 900 257 kWh, which is equivalent to the amount of energy consumed by around one thousand electrically heated 120 square metre single-family detached houses. The renewable energy sources used to generate the electricity consumed by the university were 48.9 per cent water power, 49.6 per cent bioenergy, and 1.6 per cent wind power.
As of the beginning of 2020, demand-side management (DSM) has been applied in the university properties for balancing the energy consumption of devices and systems owned by University Properties of Finland Ltd. DSM enables the use of green energy and increasing the used of renewable energy in the university properties, while also reducing the carbon footprint of buildings.
Energy savings are gained through the use of LED lights and lighting control systems.
The university has invested in LED lights in several buildings and outdoor lighting systems on the university campuses. Only LEDs are purchased, and whenever existing lighting solutions need repairing or replacing, the lights are changed to energy saving LEDs. The control and timing of lighting systems is based on the availability of natural light.
Environmentally efficient solutions were used and sustainable space planning and purchasing were chosen when building the Rantakylä Teacher Training School in Joensuu.
The Rantakylä Teacher Training School commissioned in early 2019 is a highly eco-efficient building. For example, buildings with energy-efficient structural solutions and an effective heat recovery system are rated in energy efficiency class A.
At the Joensuu Campus, the reduction of emissions from energy consumption is accelerated with the climate partnership commitment that the university has concluded with the City of Joensuu.
By signing the commitment, the university has agreed to, for example, increase the percentage of renewable energy sources used to generate district heating for the buildings in Joensuu Campus to 80 per cent by 2025.
The university is reducing the amount of waste and improving the sorting of waste.
Waste generation is minimised at the university by making sustainable choices already when purchases are made. When making purchases, the aim is to reduce the amount of packaging waste, with special attention to avoiding plastic packaging. The sorting of waste in the university’s public areas and break rooms is constantly improved by acquiring more containers and instructing how to sort waste correctly through practical examples. The collection of consumer plastic packaging on campus commenced in the winter 2020 as part of the ‘Muovimuuvi’ plastic recycling campaign of University Properties of Finland Ltd.
Compass Group is reducing the amount of food waste generated and plastic used in all of its university restaurants and cafeterias.
Compass Group stopped the use of plastic straws in take away paper cups in 2019, and plastic lids and spoons have been replaced with lids and spoons made from recyclable materials. All purchases now have less plastic packaging than before. In addition to making sustainable choices and reducing packaging waste, Compass Group also aims to cut the amount of food waste generated in half in all the stages of its value chain. The restaurants are constantly developing the measurement and monitoring of food waste.
To reduce the need to travel at the University of Eastern Finland, people are encouraged to use the university’s versatile remote access and remote meeting tools instead of travelling. According to the university’s Travel Regulations, public transport and ride-sharing should be the primary mode of transport when travelling for work within Finland. To facilitate the sharing of leased cars, a ride-sharing calendar for arranging trips – especially those between campuses – has been made available to everyone at the university. When long-distance travel within Finland is required, people should avoid domestic flights and, where possible, take the train instead of flying.
As of the beginning of 2019, the university has been offsetting its CO2 emissions from air travel.
Initially, this only applied to the flights of University Services, but the offsetting will be expanded to include the university’s air travel as a whole during the spring 2020. Offsetting is done by purchasing emission reductions, and/or permanent emission removals (carbon sink increases) in relation to emissions emitted ”tonne for tonne”, from carbon emission reducing sustainable energy projects, or from projects that increase permanent carbon sinks. These projects are typically implemented in developing countries which usually have no regulated emission reduction targets. The university also has active experts who have experience in travelling to international conferences by land.
The city bikes introduced in Kuopio and Joensuu are also at the disposal of the university’s students and staff.
City bikes were introduced in our campus cities in the spring 2019. Parking is available for cities bikes on both campuses, and the university staff and students use city bikes actively on a daily basis. To motivate the university staff to ride city bikes or their own bikes to work, the university has built parking for city bikes, improved the on-campus parking areas for bikes, and established areas for repairing bikes on each campus. There are active bike riders on both campuses. For many years now, the university has participated in the national ‘Kilometrikisa’ race, where people are challenged to ride their bikes in teams, collecting kilometres for a certain period.
The university’s Climate Action Plan and commitments
Sustainable development at the university is organised and developed by the University of Eastern Finland Advisory Board for Sustainable Development. Established ten years ago, the Advisory Board for Sustainable Development organises events each year, coordinates campus farming on both campuses, makes initiatives for sustainable development measures to improve waste sorting, for example, is in charge of the university’s reporting on sustainable development and the related commitments, and periodically carries out sustainable development audits at the university’s units. At the University of Eastern Finland, sustainability and responsibility are also embedded in the university’s quality management system.
The University of Eastern Finland has participated in the UI GreenMetric University Rankings since 2016, and in the Time Higher Education THE Impact Rankings since 2018. Both of these global rankings assess hundreds of universities against the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In the rankings, performance is assessed based on several criteria, and the information provided by the participating universities must be verifiable. The University of Eastern Finland ranks among the top 100 universities, with 600–800 universities participating each year.
- The key goal of the University of Eastern Finland’s Climate Action Plan is for the university to become carbon neutral by the end of 2025. To achieve this goal, the university commits to finding better and more effective ways of reducing the impact of its operations on the climate and to increase people’s understanding of climate change together with its cooperation partners.
- The goals of the University of Eastern Finland’s Environment Programme 2015–2020 include reducing electricity consumption, increasing awareness of environmental aspects in procurement, reducing material consumption, and mitigating the environmental impact of transport. We are also taking the same cost-saving measures throughout the university, such as reducing the consumption of energy for heating, reducing water consumption, reducing waste generation and improving waste sorting, and improving the health, safety, accessibility and comfort of the university’s premises. The university’s waste management plan is included in the Environment Programme.
- The objectives and goals set for the university’s sustainable development efforts are described in the Action Plan for Sustainable Development 2015–2020.
- The University of Eastern Finland’s Bioeconomy Programme promotes interdisciplinary cooperation across research areas and fields of study towards a carbon-neutral and resource-efficient future.
- The University of Eastern Finland’s Green Office contract is based on the objectives of the Environment Programme, and the principles of the Green Office policy are applied throughout the university.
- The goals of the university’s activities as a Fairtrade University are defined in its commitment to support and use Fairtrade. The University of Eastern Finland’s Student Union has also signed the commitment.
- The Society's Commitment to Sustainable Development 2015–2020 signed by the university defines the university’s objectives and actions for implementing the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
- The university has made a carbon emissions offsetting agreement with Nordic Offset Oy in February 2019 for air travel. Based on the agreement, the University Services’ CO2 emissions from air travel were offset by purchasing emission reductions, and/or permanent emission removals (carbon sink increases) in relation to the emissions emitted ”tonne for tonne”, from international certified environmental management projects. The carbon emissions offsetting agreement will be expanded to cover the entire university’s CO2 emissions from air travel during the spring 2020.
- The University of Eastern Finland and the City of Joensuu signed a climate partnership commitment in March 2019. In the climate partnership, the university commits to reducing its impact on the climate as part of the City of Joensuu’s target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025.
Research in sustainable development
The University of Eastern Finland is committed to promoting sustainable development as part of its research and education activities. Top-level interdisciplinary research is needed to successfully tackle complex global challenges relating to, for example, cultural encounters, lifestyles, health, and climate change. The profile areas of our research are strongly linked to seeking solutions to global sustainable development challenges.
Under the university’s policy of conduct, we agree to comply with the principles of sustainable development in all stages of our research processes and practices.
The University of Eastern Finland’s research groups participate in Finnish and Nordic research centres of excellence. Centres of Excellence represent the top of their field by global comparison. They reshape research, develop creative research environments, and educate new talent for research and business and industry in Finland.
Centre of Excellence of Inverse Modelling and Imaging
Inverse modelling refers to the analysis of unidentified coefficients or functions using indirect measurement. The developed methods are applicable in, for example, medical imaging, studying the properties of soil, and atmospheric models. Selected in the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence programme for the years 2018–2025, the University of Eastern Finland is represented in the Centre of Excellence of Inverse Modelling and Imaging by Professors Jari Kaipio, Ville Kolehmainen and Marko Vauhkonen, as well as Associate Professor Tanja Tarvainen and Academy Researcher Aku Seppänen from the Department of Applied Physics.
Centre of Excellence in Atmospheric Science
The Centre of Excellence in Atmospheric Science – From Molecular and Biological Processes to the Global Climate was selected in the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence programme for the years 2014–2019. The Centre of Excellence is led by Professor Markku Kulmala of the University of Helsinki. The aerophysics research group, led by Professor Annele Virtanen at the Department of Applied Physics, represents the University of Eastern Finland in the Centre of Excellence, which also involves the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
Nordic Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Aquatic Production (SUREAQUA)
Research groups from the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences led by Professor Mikko Kolehmainen, Professor Raine Kortet and Associate Professor Amit Bhatnagar have been invited to represent the university in the Centre of Excellence of the Nordic Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Aquatic Production (SUREAQUA) in 2017-2021. This multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence focuses on developing a comprehensive and ecologically sustainable bluebioeconomy in Northern Europe.
The coordinator of the Centre of Excellence is Fiona Provan of the International Research Institute of Stavanger IRIS in Norway. The Centre of Excellence seeks to improve food security and management of nutrient self-sufficiency in the Nordics, increase the efficient use of resources, and promote employment growth in the bluebioeconomy sector.
Education for sustainable development
The University of Eastern Finland seeks to embed sustainable development in all its education activities. Elements of sustainable development are integrated into teaching materials and methods and thesis supervision in accordance with the university’s curriculum guidelines. The aim of the integration is to ensure that every student is comprehensively educated about sustainable development.
The environment and sustainable development are emphasised in the university’s fields of study. The education offered by the Faculty of Science and Forestry covers a wide range of academic subjects related to the environment and sustainable development, but sustainability and responsibility are also included in many of the academic subjects offered by the university’s other faculties. For instance, in teacher training, students are taught how to holistically take the aspects of sustainable development and responsibility into account in teaching.
There are many Master’s degree programmes, minor subject studies, and international Master’s degree programmes focusing on sustainable development available at our university.
- Master's Degree Programme in Tourism Marketing and Management
- Master of Science in European Forestry
- Master's Degree Programme in Forestry (CBU)
- Master's Degree Programme in Wood Materials Science
- Master's Degree Programme in Biology of Environmental Change (BEC)
- Master’s Degree Programme in General Toxicology
- Master's Degree Programme in Public Health
- Master's Degree Programme in Environmental Health and Technology (ENHET)
- Master's Degree Programme in Environmental Policy and Law
- Joint Nordic Master Programme in Environmental Law
- The Institute for Natural Resources, Environment and Society
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