Learning from the Netherlands

In June, Akordi and its steering group visited the Netherlands to see how the green transition projects are being implemented. Participants in the tour were Henna Hakkarainen, Executive Director of the TAH Foundation, which funds Akordi’s development work on proactive solutions to green transition conflicts, Johanna Kentala-Lehtonen, Secretary General of the Sustainability Panel, Touko Sipiläinen, Country Director of Greenpeace, Teppo Säkkinen, Energy and Climate Specialist at the Chamber of Commerce, and Taru Tujunen, Communications Specialist. From Akord’s own team, Jonna Kangasoja, Lasse Peltonen, Minna Näsman and Emma Luoma participated.

When it comes to offshore wind power, the Netherlands is a decade ahead of Finland. René Moor (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy) presented the development of offshore wind power in the Netherlands. The key message to Finland was a strongly coordinated roadmap, where the steps for offshore wind development and siting are clear to all. The government’s own body will provide the best possible and comprehensive survey of project development sites, which will be available to all project operators when making bids. In this way, high quality surveys are carried out – only once.

Learnings on ecological compensation

The visit also provided an opportunity to learn about the monitoring of the ecological compensation scheme implemented as part of the extension of the Port of Rotterdam (Maasvlakte 2). The implementation of nature compensation has an impact on fishing areas in particular and negotiations have been difficult. The case was presented in a workshop, where the main negotiator for the nature organisation, a representative of the port of Rotterdam, and the Dutch partner of Akordi, WesselinkvanZijst, who acted as mediator and led the negotiations for both the port extension and the monitoring of the nature compensation, explained the steps in the process. WesselinkvanZijst’s approach to strategic stakeholder cooperation is one of the best practices that can be learned from in Finland.

Inspiring international examples

As part of the excursion, Akordi’s steering group also used the workshop to concretise how, in the coming years, Akordi’s procedures based on staged negotiation between the parties and professionally conducted stakeholder work will be scaled up in Finland. David Fairman (Consensus Building Institute, USA), Marc Wesselink and Mart Scheepers (WesselinkvanZijst) supported and sparred the workshop. Based on international examples and the experience already gained in Finland, it is evident that new methodological approaches are needed in transition management to strengthen joint problem-solving and to support decision-making at local, regional and national level.

International examples play a key role in the project “Anticipating and resolving conflicts in the green transition”, funded by the TAH Foundation. Other priorities include skills development and the piloting and dissemination of models based on shared problem-solving. The project is currently working on guides for green transition project developers and municipalities to support transition management.

Stay tuned!