Sustainability transitions - impact narratives

Sustainability transition

© Kai Widell

In line with SYKE’s strategy, we are deeply involved in the process of sustainability transition both in terms of research and of mainstreaming the transition. SYKE's sustainability transition research takes several directions including the operationalization of ecosystem services and the potential of sustainable diets, energy systems, circular economy and urban fabrics. SYKE has also managed to bridge these system approaches, analysing e.g., eating and energy systems in parallel.

A direct link to international sustainability work was established in 2016 when SYKE became involved in the development of the Global Sustainable Development Report 2019. An expert from SYKE was one of the 15 authors of the Report, and SYKE also produced supporting reports to the work.

A Finnish key organisations for sustainability transition, or transformation, is the Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development, which is coordinated by SYKE and chaired by a member of the SYKE staff. In 2020 the Expert Panel released "Sixth paths towards sustainability", which builds on Global Sustainable Development Report 2019 and acts as a Finnish toolkit for transition. The outlined paths range from economies, energy and food to human wellbeing and the urban and natural environment.

In its release, the Expert Panel further identified four steps leading to sustainability, the first of these being research. SYKE's recent research initiatives include a multidisciplinary JUST FOOD project which studies transition to a climate-smart and healthy food system and involves scientists from several universities and research institutes. Another research project where SYKE participates actively is ORSI – Towards Eco-Welfare State which investigates fair and robust methods to make Finland environmentally sustainable. Both these projects have a strong link to Global Sustainable Development Report 2019.

For more on the impacts

Healthy and sustainable: Environmental criteria feed nutrition recommendations

© Riku Lumiaro

Through broad collaboration with e.g., schools and food service companies, SYKE has studied the role of canteen meals in the transition towards more sustainable diets. The results have been used for policy preparation and guidance on sustainable diets, school meals and responsible public food procurement. The report on dietary change and policy mixes was made use of in the drafting of the current Government Programme and led to the launching of a specific Climate Food Program. The collaboration with a very broad range of research, policy and practice representatives is ongoing and SYKE’s second policy brief is coming out in August 2020.

Putting your money where your mouth is

Initially, SYKE experimented with serving climate-friendly lunches in its in-house lunch restaurant as part of its sustainability commitment. In 2016, an Academy of Finland project on the transformative potential of sustainable diets afforded new, experimentative methodology to study the role of public food services and school meals in the transition towards more sustainable diets. This work has produced knowledge that helps food professionals in transitioning to sustainable food systems.

The focus in improving environmental sustainability has shifted from food production systems to consumption, which underlines the role of new policy instruments and actors in food and environmental policies. SYKE harnesses this collaboration and promotes the integration of environmental criteria into nutrition recommendations.

SYKE’s experiences on Finnish school meals delivered to international scientific and policy discussion (e.g. GSDR report; Global food system transformation course).

The policy mixes for sustainable dietary change have been published in a report (Saarinen et al. 2019) and Policy Brief (2019) for the Prime Minister’s Office. A second Policy Brief is coming out in August 2020.

Several scientific articles have been published (Kaljonen et al. 2018; 2019; 2020).

A large 8 Million Euro project funded by the Strategic Research Council to study further just food system transition. The collaborative project led by SYKE extends our international network in this area (Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern).

For more on the impacts:

Societal transition in the face of climate and security challenges

SYKE has been involved in carrying out the impact assessments of all national energy and climate strategies since 2000. As a part of this collaborative work, a SYKE researcher was also on secondment at the National Audit Office to audit one of the strategies. These impact assessment reports have accompanied the strategy documents in the decision-making and adoption processes.

SYKE focuses on transitions and explains their economic, social and policy drivers. These studies focusing on transport, resource use, buildings, cities and energy systems have produced scientific papers and policy briefs. SYKE has also analyzed intermediaries in energy transition, and transition to plant-based food systems.

Raising the bar on policy evaluation

SYKE also analyzes and evaluates EU and international policy.

SYKE has raised the standards of policy evaluation in Finland and contributed to making the new sustainability transitions concepts and ideas visible in public and policy discussions in Finland and internationally. The recent linking of societal transitions with security policy has been timely in the time of exceptional pandemic and the application of the State of Emergency Act and is likely to provide new insights and expands SYKE’s networks. The experimental work implementing transition approaches for carbon neutrality in municipalities, and has been applied in other areas such as waste management and nature municipalities.

Supporting the transitions work, scenarios for climate and energy policies continue to play a role as important tolls. SYKE participates in developing concrete solutions to increase the effectiveness of the through various evaluations and working groups.

For more on the impacts:

Published 2020-06-25 at 10:19, updated 2020-06-30 at 14:45
Topic:
Target group:

Examples of our collaboration

SYKE – Towards a sustainable world (Issuu) (2018)

SYKE – Open environmental information for the building of a sustainable society (Issuu) (2018)