Turku has progressed faster than any other Finnish city in achieving its climate targets and is approaching carbon neutrality in 2029. Leading companies and organisations in the region have joined the climate effort through their own impactful actions.
The Mayor’s Climate Meeting on 8 April 2026 brought together 100 representatives of climate partners and other participants at the Turku City Theatre to reinforce the shared climate effort towards 2029. The City of Turku’s climate partners are committed to supporting Turku in its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2029, when the city celebrates its 800th anniversary. Turku has succeeded in reducing its emissions in line with its target. Finland’s national goal is to become carbon neutral by 2035.
Jyri Seppälä, Chair of the Finnish Climate Change Panel and Research Professor, hopes that Turku’s approach will spread and strengthen climate action throughout Finland.
– Climate action by the City of Turku and by companies and organisations in the region is exemplary from the perspective of all of Finland. Shared goals and cooperation to achieve them strengthen expertise and competitiveness in a sustainable way. Turku’s example shows how responsible climate, economic, and business policy can be combined to support one another, Jyri Seppälä says.
The European Union Supports Turku’s Climate Work
Since 2022, Turku has been one of the European Commission’s Climate Mission Cities, which are working to become carbon neutral by 2030 at the latest with the support of the Commission. The Mission Cities serve as examples of impactful climate action across Europe.
As part of this mission work, Turku has built a strong climate partnership with companies and organisations in the region.
– Companies and organisations in the region play a crucial role alongside the city – both as implementers of climate solutions and as beneficiaries of them. A carbon-neutral Turku is built through cooperation, and when we succeed, the entire region benefits: the economy, the vitality, and the residents. Our higher education institutions enable development work and new solutions based on knowledge and expertise, emphasises Mayor of Turku Piia Elo.
The Climate Partners Promote a Climate Neutral Turku Through Their Own Actions
The European Union’s Climate Mission includes a Climate City Contract, which strengthens cooperation, investments, and measures to achieve carbon neutrality. A total of 47 key companies and organisations from the region have joined as Turku Climate Partners. They include, for example, leading companies in the region’s key industries, higher education institutions, the wellbeing services county, the Regional Council of Southwest Finland, leading actors in culture and communications, leading companies in finance and commerce, as well as the joint parish of Turku and Kaarina and key City of Turku group entities.
In connection with the Mayor’s Climate Meeting, Turku’s group of climate partners continued to grow as Orion Pharma and KOy Turun Monitoimitilat joined the network.
In the Future, Climate Neutral Medicine Is Produced in Turku
Turku’s climate partner network is strengthened by pharmaceutical expertise as Orion Pharma joins the initiative. Achieving carbon neutrality in the production processes of Orion’s Turku factory in 2026 is a strong indication of the determined work being carried out in Turku to manufacture medicines sustainably.
– In pharmaceutical manufacturing, a great deal of energy utilities is required, and reducing their use is not easy. We have therefore made significant investments at our production facilities to improve energy efficiency and electrify processes. In 2021, we opened a heat pump plant at our Turku factory, and most recently a new steam plant has just been completed. It produces the steam needed in production in Turku using fossil-free electricity, says Juhani Kankaanpää, Executive Vice President, Global Operations at Orion.
Turku is an internationally significant hub of pharmaceutical expertise, where medicines manufactured in the city are used to treat people around the world. Orion Pharma’s climate work also has an impact beyond Turku and its own production. At company level, Orion Pharma has set science-based emissions reduction targets that are aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree goal.
The Growing Turku Needs Sustainable Spaces for Functional Everyday Life
Sustainable facility solutions are an important part of climate action as Turku continues to grow strongly and this growth also increases the need for premises for different purposes. Turun Monitoimitilat builds and maintains City of Turku facilities, where learning, wellbeing, and smooth everyday life come together.
– The built environment plays a key role in reducing emissions. We promote the City of Turku’s ambitious climate goals through continuous improvements in energy efficiency, low-carbon construction solutions, and lifecycle-wise property management. Cooperation with the city and climate partners supports our impactful climate solutions, says Seppo Saaristo, CEO of KOy Turun Monitoimitilat.
In these multi-purpose facilities, early childhood education and care, education, sports opportunities, and other services can, for example, be brought together under one roof. The company joining as a climate partner further strengthens the message that Turku’s growth is being built sustainably for future generations.
The Mayor’s Climate Meeting Culminated in a Joint Climate Message by the Partners
At the end of the Mayor’s Climate Meeting, Turku’s climate partners published a joint message reinforcing climate action and a sustainable future (Appendix 2). The partners support Turku’s 2029 carbon neutrality target and see climate and sustainability goals as a central part of the region’s development, while recognising their own significant role in achieving them. From the perspective of companies and organisations, cities’ ambitious targets and ability to bring actors together accelerate the sustainability transition faster than states. Cities, companies and organisations together are creating the change that the ecological crisis requires of us.
Emissions in the Turku region have already been reduced by more than 70 per cent compared with levels in 1990, and the City of Turku is updating its climate plan in June 2026.
For more information on Turku and its partners’ climate work: www.turku.fi/en/city-climate-and-nature