Jari Lyytimäki and Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki: Putting Nature's Carrying Capacity at the Heart of Innovation Strategy

Such a goal is highly needed. Finland has lagged behind comparable countries in investments in research, development, and innovation. Country’s education system has also declined from its former status as a role model.

However, simply throwing more money at the problem won't automatically lead to the right direction. In education, the content of teaching is more important than the number of degrees awarded. In research, the total amount of funding is less crucial than how those limited resources are directed. But what issues should be researched and how can knowledge best be used for the benefit of society?

What are Finland's most important sustainability issues?

We gathered views from about twenty Finnish sustainability experts. The most important issues identified were the concrete implementation of circular economy and the economic impacts of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Other key themes included the development of a local democracy and participation that supports the sustainability transformation and the positive and negative environmental impacts of the energy transition.

A unifying priority emerged across these themes: research on overconsumption and consumption moderation. Finland's consumption of natural resources and environmental burden are undeniably excessive. This weakens long-term prospects for securing the prerequisites for well-being.

We still don't know the best ways to curb overconsumption. Often, the problem is that overconsumption isn't recognized as an issue at all. While environmental and sustainability issues are present in many sector-specific research programs, strategies, and guidelines, they typically remain secondary to pursuing economic growth and increasing consumption opportunities.

There are plenty of open questions. How can the negative impacts of mining, wind power, and solar power production be mitigated during the green transition? How can residents best participate in developing their immediate surroundings? How can biodiversity be protected amidst climate crisis? Should the state actively guide ecological reconstruction?

Don't go it alone

Finland needs a national research and innovation strategy that seriously considers the carrying capacity of the environment and the limitations of natural resources. This strategy, with its determined implementation, should produce the knowledge base needed for a rapid and fair sustainability transformation that affects the entire society. The strategy should cover the entire government, so that its implementation is not limited to a single ministry.

National-level innovation guidance alone is not enough. Overconsumption and many other sustainability issues are inherently transnational. A strong EU-level strategy for environmental and sustainability research and innovation would help manage the global crises we face. Perhaps we could even prevent some of these crises altogether.

The authors Jari Lyytimäki and Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki participate in the EU-funded Collaborative Action for Sustainability Research and Innovation (CASRI) project (umweltbudesamt.de). This shapes a European action plan for environmental and sustainability research and explores views on the most important research topics in 13 countries.

Jari works as a Leading researcher in Syke's Politics of Knowledge group and is also interested in his free time how information affects or fails to affect action. Kaisa is the Head of the Governing Transition group, and believes that all kinds of transformations require collaborative power.

Opinions of blog contributors do not necessarily reflect the official views and opinions of the Finnish Environment Institute.