Municipal Climate Solutions Programme accelerates climate work in municipalities and regions

More than 60% of Finns live in municipalities that aim for carbon neutrality or an emission reduction of at least 80% by 2030, five years before Finland’s national carbon neutrality target in 2035. Although Finland has many municipalities that are at the leading edge of climate action, many others have not yet launched their own climate work.

Read about climate plans on the website Climate plans of municipalities, in Finnish.

The Municipal Climate Solutions Programme of the Ministry of the Environment accelerates and funds local and regional climate work in Finland. 

The most important tasks of the programme are

• to promote and speed up climate work in municipalities and regions,
• to provide funding for local and regional climate solutions, 
• to fund and disseminate national climate tools and policies at local and regional level,
• to improve and strengthen the flow of information and cooperation between the state and municipalities in the field of climate work.

The Municipal Climate Solutions Programme is linked to Finland’s carbon neutrality target

Local authorities play a key role in Finland’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. They serve as the platforms, facilitators, boosters and catalysts for local and regional climate work. Within their own municipality, local authorities are responsible for town planning, land use, transport planning, ownership steering of municipal energy companies, heating choices for many buildings and public procurement, for example.   

As a rule, the municipal sector accounts for about 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the region. The remaining 90% of the emissions are produced by other sectors, especially by the activities of local companies and residents. However, there is great variation in the percentages of this 10/90 rule between different types of municipalities, so municipalities should focus both on reducing their own emissions and on boosting emission reductions by other operators in the region. Municipalities can do this by means of various guidance measures, such as obligations, economic guidance, communication and service design.

Funding provided to introduce best practices and experiment with new ones

The Municipal Climate Change Solutions Programme supports and funds climate work in municipalities and regions through procurement operations and government grants. Most of the programme’s funding is targeted directly at assisting municipalities and regions in their own climate projects. The starting point for the projects is to adopt best climate practices and to experiment with new ones. At the regional level, neighbouring municipalities are encouraged to cooperate with several other municipalities on climate issues. On the regional level, climate work is promoted especially through Regional Councils and Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres).

Part of the programme’s funding is used for procurements at national level that enable climate work in all municipalities and regions. The funding is used to develop common tools, operating models, communication materials, knowledge base and training.

Upcoming calls for applications for funding under the Municipal Climate Change Solutions Programme will be announced on this website. Other calls for applications for municipal climate work grants can be tracked by means of a list funded by the programme, which is updated once a month.

• Applications for grants to boost climate work in municipalities | Motiva (in Finnish)

Projects funded from the programme

The Municipal Climate Change Solutions Programme has funded nearly 160 projects in 2018–2023. The most important themes of the funded projects have been the climate and economic leadership in municipalities, climate cooperation between municipalities and companies, sustainable lifestyles and engagement of municipal residents, low-carbon transport, energy efficiency and resource wisdom as well as regional climate cooperation. The projects have been carried out by municipalities, regional councils, national organisations promoting climate change, research institutes and ELY Centres. Projects have been implemented in all regions of Mainland Finland. In addition to large cities, small and medium-sized municipalities have also been included in the programme.

Studies and publications

• Summary of intermediate results of Municipal Climate Solutions Programme  2018–2022 ,in Finnish

Social media

Follow and participate in the discussion on municipal climate work in social media with the hashtag #KuntienIlmastoratkaisut.