The international Green Key sustainability program has firmly established itself in over 60 countries, including Finland.
“There are already many sustainability certifications, but Green Key stands out because of its unique background,” says Heidi Heinonen, CEO of Going Green Oy, which coordinates the program in Finland.
“The foundation behind Green Key is a non-profit organization, the Foundation for Environmental Education. Many other sustainability programs are privately funded.”
The Green Key program targets businesses in the tourism sector, including hotels, restaurants, cafés, and various leisure destinations. It was established in Denmark in 1994 and made its way to Finland about a decade ago, in 2014.
“Each country has the right to adjust the certification criteria to suit its own characteristics. Since the Nordic countries are already more advanced in terms of sustainability compared to many other nations, we’ve tightened the program’s criteria here in Finland.”
“Our work also includes environmental education. Communication plays a significant role in this: we aim to educate our clients on sustainability matters through member pages and webinars.”
“Transparency and openness are core values that permeate everything we do,” says Heinonen.
“For instance, all our criteria are completely public, which isn’t the case for all systems. Certification is always granted by a third-party verifier, and audits are usually conducted by external professionals.”
In the program, businesses commit to a learning path where audits are performed annually at first, and later every three years. Certification is reapplied for each year, and the application outlines development goals for the upcoming year. According to Heinonen, this path of continuous learning and improvement sets Green Key apart from many other certifications.
“Of course, we also support our members in their development, for example by organizing webinars on sustainability-related topics.”
The Green Key criteria range from practical sustainability actions to management and development issues, with standards applying to all levels of the organization.
“In addition to environmental responsibility, social responsibility issues are also becoming more prominent,” notes Heinonen.
“For younger employees, social responsibility is often a critical factor when choosing a workplace—we saw this firsthand when we received 450 applications while looking for a new employee to join our three-person team.”
“The companies that seek certification from us already tend to have a high level of awareness about sustainability issues,” summarizes Heinonen.
“The application process brings out the good practices that are already in place. Businesses don’t always recognize what they’re already doing well, even though these are exactly the things that should be highlighted in their communication. Sustainability is a success factor for businesses—not just in the future, but right now.”
Text: Kaisa Mäntyranta
