Environmental issues

An environmentally responsible HAAGA-HELIA

HAAGA-HELIA is the first university in Finland to commit itself to adopting the WWF Green Office environmental management programme in all of its campuses. Long traditions on behalf of the environment. HAAGA-HELIA has an exemplary record in pro-environmental actions:

• Vierumäki campus earned the demanding ISO 14001 certificate in 2001.
• Vallila campus was the first educational institute in Finland to earn WWF Green Office certification in 2006. 
• Haaga campus’s Ecoteam has been operating since 2000. Eco Idols have been chosen from among our students and staff 12 times. Environmental efforts in Haaga culminated with Green Office certification in September 2009.
• A Green Office audit will be requested for Pasila campus for autumn 2010.
• Our students have had the opportunity to specialise in socially responsible business and student projects and theses have addressed corporate social responsibility for several decades now.
• Our students have established a tradition in organising pro-environmental events in Kamppi’s Narinkkatori square – a beach volleyball tournament in 2009 and a sea pup's nest building contest in 2010.

The new Porvoo campus represents the latest in eco-technology

The new Porvoo campus has been built using the very latest in eco-efficient technology. Students will have the opportunity to make the most of new curricula, which address plenty of topics from the sustainability point of view. The curricula will also contain new courses in which the corporate social responsibility dimension is well integrated with the main substance of the course.

Responsible HAAGA-HELIA project

WWF Green Office is a part of the Responsible HAAGA-HELIA project, which has been established to build a comprehensive sustainable development programme for our university. The project aims to foster responsibility in HAAGA-HELIA and its units, while taking into account the different professional needs of the units.   The project has four key dimensions:

Green HAAGA-HELIA
Happy HAAGA-HELIA
Degree HAAGA-HELIA
Developing HAAGA-HELIA.

The first of these focuses on environmental certification efforts (Green Office), the second on workplace wellbeing, the third on curricula and the fourth on R&D activities. Sustainable development programme for HAAGA-HELIA: Responsible HAAGA-HELIA

What is Green Office?

The Finnish WWF’s Green Office is an environmental programme for offices. With its help, workplaces are able to reduce their burden on the environment while reducing material and energy costs, i.e. save euros and the environment! The basic idea behind the programme is that the office and its employees voluntarily commit themselves to do their best on behalf of the environment, in the spirit of continuous improvement.
HAAGA-HELIA differs from many organisations in that our premises are used by both students and staff. In other words, Green Office covers not just our offices but also other areas – from classrooms and computer rooms to the kitchen and sports facilities.  The Green Office environmental management programme is always campus specific.

How does Green Office work?

The Green Office environmental programme has a simple and light structure. The organisation chooses its own developmental targets (indicators), sets targets for them and then strives to meet these targets through appropriate action. With the adoption of Green Office, HAAGA-HELIA focuses especially on the following:
• Reducing paper consumption
• Reducing energy consumption
• Procurements
• Waste management

Keep it simple! Use less paper and shut the lights and equipment when you leave the room. Favour eco-friendly products and suppliers in procurements and remember to recycle. Learn more about Green Office at www.wwf.fi
A key event at the Travel 2009 Fair was the signing of the Helsinki Declaration. One of the signatories was HAAGA-HELIA. The Helsinki Declaration marks the beginning of efforts to make the Finnish travel industry even more sustainable than before.