Finland promotes sustainability at Rio Olympics

Last Friday, Finland House held its opening Gala at Rio’s historic Casa França Brasil building, and featured Santa Claus himself to promote Finnish culture and sustainability.

Along with Santa, Finland’s IOC Member Sari Essayah and Ilkke Homanen, the Head of Industry for Cleantech Finland, one of the house’s major partners were present and talked about sustainable technology in sport.

Cleantech Finland – which is a hub of Finnish expertise and sustainable innovation – aims at finding solutions to advance cleantech business, and were present at the Olympics, an ideal platform for creating more sustainability, according to Homanen.

Homanen said: “This is the first showcase for us but this is a long term project for us. Next we go to Asia – to PyeongChang, to Tokyo, to Beijing. Clean environment and how to apply clean technologies to clean environment is in our blood.”

He added: “For sport and the Olympics, sustainability is hugely important. We have all the technologies available and the right mind-set and we can deliver solutions that can help the environment.”

The Finnish Olympic Committee is the first Olympic Committee to have a cleantech technology company as a partner for its Olympic Team.

Risto Nieminen, president of the Finnish Olympic Committee said: “At an international level, sustainability is extremely important. It must be something that we can rely on in the Olympic movement. We are really using their expertise in our competitions and development, to ensure we are doing everything in a sustainable way.”

He added: “The athletes are really excited to be associated with this clean technology. It is providing better facilities and cleaner facilities. The sustainable idea is something the younger generation is really interested in."

As the first high-end Olympic Finnish hospitality house, Finland House will host business and sport-related events, ministerial and presidential visits, and the Finnish Olympic Team press conferences.