By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia

Nokia has announced support for the University of Jyväskylä to improve the biodiversity footprint assessments of organizations.

This activity is aligned with Nokia’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, as well as a broader longstanding commitment to combatting climate change and minimizing environmental impacts. The international scientific community has stressed that climate change and biodiversity loss should be considered together when solutions aiming to reduce the impacts are developed, and the support just announced is aimed to facilitate this development.

If organizations know which activities cause the most significant biodiversity loss and how large their overall biodiversity footprint is, they can develop effective strategies and measures to reduce their biodiversity footprint. So far, standards and comprehensive tools suitable for different kinds of organizations and industries do not exist, although general accounting principles and tools are under development.

Complementing Nokia’s contribution, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra has agreed to fund a project by the University of Jyväskylä on the same topic, aiming to unlock the key blockers standing in the way of an international standard on biodiversity footprint measurement. The core goal of the project is to establish a common language between the best metrics employed today. The project will be exploring ways to achieve convertibility between the current state-of-the-art measurement approaches, and between different biodiversity impacts in different ecosystems around the globe.

Vice President, Sustainability at Nokia, Subho Mukherjee said: “The high-level COP15 United Nations conference clearly showed that biodiversity loss and climate change remain two of the biggest threats to our planet. Our University Donations Program aims to tap into the brightest minds in academia to explore high impact areas with future relevance to Nokia and society such as environment, nature, future skills and technologies like 6G, Quantum and AI.”

Rector of the University of Jyväskylä, Jari Ojala said: “In addition to climate change, biodiversity loss is one of the largest global sustainability challenges. Researchers at the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, together with the School of Resource Wisdom, JYU. Wisdom, have concluded internationally pioneering work to calculate the biodiversity footprint of companies. The assessment of biodiversity impacts is the first step so that we can actively start reducing the impacts and contribute to reversing the biodiversity loss. We are very thankful for Nokia’s significant support for developing the biodiversity footprint calculation of companies.”

Director of Sustainability Solutions at Sitra, Lasse Miettinen said: “The international field of biodiversity footprint measurement is progressing rapidly, with the work done by the University of Jyväskylä being one of the global frontrunners. However, there are many different measurement approaches being developed, with little common language yet between them. To achieve a common international standard would be a game changer for all the businesses and other organizations that strive to measure their biodiversity impacts. Sitra is excited to fund a project that aims to pave the way for precisely that.”