Calculating the biodiversity and carbon footprints of the City

The purpose is to monitor the environmental impacts of procurements on an annual basis

The City of Tampere has looked into the environmental effects of its procurements in cooperation with the University of Jyväskylä. The joint development project calculated the impact of the procurements made in 2021 in the field of operational expenses on biodiversity and carbon emissions. The calculation took into account the operating budget, not investments. The calculation was mainly based on the financial accounts of the city organisation.  

The project developed the integration of the calculation of the environmental and carbon footprint into the city's financial system, so that the impact of the city's activities can be monitored almost in real time. The development work will continue, the Power BI report on footprint monitoring is to be published in spring 2025.

Calculating the biodiversity damage caused by cities still remains rare. The project launched together with the University of Jyväskylä was a pilot study that develops methods for measuring the biodiversity and carbon footprints of any organization. The City of Tampere has been one of the first cities internationally to assess the impact of its procurement both in climate change ja biodiversity.

Apart from the procurements in operational budget, the project also studied the effects of an example investment, i.e. the renovation of the Yliopistonkatu street.

The research was conducted jointly with the School of Resource Wisdom of the University of Jyväskylä (JYU.Wisdom), an open and transdisciplinary network that analyses the causes of sustainability problems in society and economics and seeks to solve them. It aspires to advance and advocate research-based decision-making.

Follow-up study on the biodiversity footprint and handprint of construction

The developed calculation method will be applied to the environmental impact assessment of construction and urban planning in a research project starting in 2024 by the cities of Tampere and Espoo, the real estate and construction group SRV and the University of Jyväskylä.

Globally, the real estate and construction sector uses 30-50% of natural resources. Therefore, urban planning and construction have a significant impact on biodiversity and the construction sector has a great opportunity and responsibility to halt biodiversity loss and climate change.

In Tampere, JYU.Wisdom, together with the City of Tampere and SRV, is studying the natural footprint and handprint of construction in three different sites: the enrichment of natural values in the area to be built over the railway yard, the construction of a future apartment building in Tesomajärvi and the building itself in a day-care centre in Koivistonkylä.