Akordi’s New Year’s Resolution
At the start of the year, it’s common to think about priorities so that it’s easier to focus on those things you really want to spend your limited time on. At Akordi we have chosen the key themes we want to focus on this year.
Green Transition projects are among the biggest opportunities for economic growth in Finland. At the same time, it is already clear that some degree of tensions and conflicts will accompany the sustainability transition. Conflicts translate into direct and indirect costs on projects, developers and stakeholders. The most obvious costs are project delays or cancellations, projects having to be redesigned, reintroduced into decision-making, etc. To local communities the negative impacts of projects are very significant ‘costs’, although they are more difficult to measure. To be successful, projects need to take into account and minimize project risks. Not gaining acceptability from the local community should be understood as a major risk.
Learning from international examples
In many countries, the state has systematically invested in supporting the process side of green transition projects, thus reducing risks: in Denmark, a mobile team of renewable energy experts helps municipalities manage the risks of renewable energy projects. A ‘travel team’ was established in 2022 in cooperation between three ministries under the National Climate Agreement.
In the US, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) provides loans for energy transition projects with a mandate of around $400 billion. The unit aims to ensure the success of projects by emphasising project risk management. Success depends on early and effective dialogue and local community buy-in.
In these international examples, local acceptance is seen as one of the keys to project success, and local dialogue is understood as an important part of project risk mitigation.
From consultations to partnerships
We need better processes in Finland. Local needs and realities have to be the starting point of project development. Partnership emerges out of having an actual say and being listened to.
Partnership-type of arrangements can be supported by principles and tools of collaborative governance. Partherships can also take the form of contracting, which involves local negotiation on how to share the benefits and disadvantages of a project (see the news on Juha Kotilainen’s PhD thesis).
New kinds of processes require new kinds of expertise. Also, the use of specialised process facilitators and mediators can make a big difference.
Putting more effort into early stages of project development makes it possible to address problems and controversial issues before they lead to complaints and conflicts escalate.
Akordi’s resolution for 2025 is to keep our eyes and ears open, so that we can help create connections where they are missing, and to make space for fresh thinking which is needed for crafting feasible solutions to the challenges ahead.
Jonna Kangasoja
Chief Executive Officer of Akordi