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Public procurement is an important part of Finland’s national economy, constituting around 15% of the country’s gross domestic product. Public procurement refers to, for example, the procurement of services, contracts and goods by the government, municipalities and joint municipal authorities (meaning companies and welfare areas owned by municipalities). The largest biodiversity footprints in 2022 were caused by social and health services (30%), construction and maintenance services (16%), energy consumption of buildings (11%), and medicines and care supplies (8%). The project also examined possibilities to reduce the biodiversity footprint.  

“We placed the procurement categories in a quadrant graph and analysed the relationship between the volume of procurement (how much is being procured) and the intensity of the biodiversity impact of procurement (biodiversity footprint per euro),” says the leader of the project Essi Pykäläinen, aproject secretary and doctoral researcher from the Ģ��ֱ��. “According to our assessment, the most significant potential to reduce the biodiversity footprint is in construction and maintenance services, the energy consumption of buildings, medicines and care supplies, and catering and accommodation services.” 

Public sector leads the way in securing biodiversity 

The calculation of Finland’s biodiversity footprint in public procurement is nationally and internationally significant and ensures that biodiversity will be considered in all sectors of society. 

“The report proves that carbon and biodiversity footprints can be assessed comparatively, and it would be important to monitor both of them systematically at the level of public procurement and organisations in the future,” says group leader Sami El Geneidy, a doctoral researcher from the Ģ��ֱ��. “Systematic monitoring makes it possible to set measurable goals and observe if the actions to reduce the footprints and mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss are effective.” 

As a major player, the public sector can lead the way – both in Finland and internationally – in the monitoring and reduction of the biodiversity footprint of procurement, and, from a broader perspective, in the sustainability transformation of society. 

“Public procurement plays an important role as a national forerunner, and it makes the minimising of environmental impacts concrete,” says Professor Janne Kotiaho from the Ģ��ֱ��. “The public sector can serve as a piloting platform for novel solutions, which also enables a more extensive deployment of these solutions in the future. This is also important for the idea of environmental handprint, which is promoted by organisations. Therefore, it is important to make public procurement as sustainable as possible and aim to invest in innovative solutions. However, also in public procurement the aim should be to maintain the total amount of consumption at as reasonable a level as possible.” 

Biodiversity footprint supports sustainability strategies  

In addition to its significant results, the project demonstrated that in addition to a carbon footprint, it is also possible to calculate a more extensive biodiversity footprint.  

“This biodiversity footprint assessment makes it possible to start setting national environmental targets for public acquisitions with key impact and also monitor how effective the procurement value chains of public operators are when aiming to achieve climate and biodiversity targets in the future,” says Senior Specialist Salla Koivusalo. 

The climate impacts of public procurement were previously investigated in the HILMI project (2021), and this study was conducted to provide more information on the biodiversity impacts of public procurement.  

More information: 

• Senior Specialist Salla Koivusalo, Ministry of the Environment, salla.koivusalo@gov.fi, +358 29 525 0289 

• Link to the report:  

• School of Resource Wisdom, JYU.Wisdom: