The conference will be organized online.
Organizers will contact and give instructions for those who registered to participate in person. The difference between a delegate's in-person fee and online fee (minus 20€ administration fee) will be refunded to those who registered to participate in person.
Participation includes 3 days of multidisciplinary sessions, discussions and expert presentations which are all available for registered participants until the end of the year 2021. Registered participants will receive an invitation link for the conference platform closer the event date.
The European Green Capital Award (EGCA) is a competition for cities, organised by the European Commission. The title is given to one city at a time for one year for merits in pioneering environmental actions, setting an example for other cities and developing innovative solutions to environmental challenges. Before Lahti, 11 European cities have received this title. The programme and events of the year are built around four themes – carbon-neutral life, circular economy, participation, as well as nature and water.
"This is why we make bold environmental choices every day in Lahti together with universities, companies and the residents. We are a pioneer of smart, sustainable solutions and the European Green Capital 2021.
As the Green Capital, we will highlight the best European environmental solutions, support the climate goals of Lahti and the whole Finland and start ambitious cooperation projects. We will make the long-term environmental work in Lahti known both in Finland and around the whole world and make sure that the citizens’ everyday life in the city is smooth."
The city of Lahti is located less than an hour from Helsinki Airport by train or car, and an hour from the harbours of Helsinki. As a medium-sized Finnish city, Lahti delivers both excellent services and ample green space. No rush hours or sitting in cars for hours. This means you can use your time effectively.
Built in connection with the Railway Station, Lahti Travel Centre is the transport hub of the region bringing local and long-haul traffic and different modes of transport together seamlessly.
Salpausselkä Geopark, situated in the Lahti region in southern Finland, tells the story of the best-known geological entity of Finland. The First and Second Salpausselkä are unique ice-marginal formations laid down by the last Ice Age. They reach across the entirety of southern Finland and are at their most spectacular in the area of Salpausselkä Geopark. Here they are joined to feeder eskers of international value, such as the picturesque Kelvenne Island and Pulkkilanharju Esker in Päijänne National Park
The journey of Lahti towards becoming a Green Capital started with the conservation of Lake Vesijärvi. The Vesijärvi I project was the largest restoration of a food web in the world: more than one million kilos of roach was removed from the Enonselkä Basin in the lake and over one million young zanders were planted into the lake; as a result, blue algae blooms decreased significantly.
In the early 1990s, the results of the Vesijärvi I project started to show: the water quality improved and the life below the surface flourished. As the condition of Lake Vesijärvi improved, both fishermen and the people of the city returned to enjoy the lake near the city centre. In 1996 the Department of Environmental Ecology of the University of Helsinki was established in Lahti.
Lahti has received the honour of becoming the European Green Capital as the first city in Finland.
Environmental education and the inclusion of citizens are an important part of the goals of the green city. The regional environment week has been arranged since 1997, and it encourages the companies and residents of the city to take green actions together. In 1998 An extensive waste management system was introduced. The Grain Cluster was founded 2003, it is a network of farmers and industrial companies that develops circular economy and business in the field. Lahti stopped using coal in the spring of 2019, when the new bioenergy plant Kymijärvi III replaced the coal-fired Kymijärvi I power plant.
Lahti has received the honour of becoming the European Green Capital as the first city in Finland. Large-scale cooperation projects will be launched and a number of international and local environmental events will be hosted. During the year, the best European environmental solutions are highlighted and the citizens, companies and communities are encouraged to take bold environmental action together.
Lahti has set ambitious climate goals and intends to become a carbon-neutral by 2025 – ten years before the target set by the Finnish Government Programme and 25 years before the EU.
Read more: The journey of Lahti towards becoming a Green Capital
You can contact the conference organizing team at: peopleplanet-info(at)helsinki.fi
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