The organisation of a celebratory fireworks display arouses mixed emotions. Earth Hour is celebrated on the same evening.
Sustainability and climate issues have become increasingly important in sporting events.
The organisers of the Centenary of the Salpausselkä Championships, which start in Lahti on Friday, will emphasise sustainable solutions.
According to Helminen, it is also important to take into account social responsibility, i.e. the importance of the event for the community.
– When organizing the centenary of the Games, we have also thought about traditions and experientiality.
A responsibility program has been made for the Games. In addition to that, a campaign was launched in honor of the centenary games and a hundred acts of responsibility were listed, which are presented on the website of the games.
According to Jaana Helminen, the biggest emissions in major events come from traffic and logistics in and outside the competition area.
– We encourage the use of public transport. For example, you can now use the race ticket for free on local buses. The free tickets distributed to school children also entitle them to free trips.
Sausages and fireworks – feelings for and against
Question marks on the list of responsible actions are raised by race sausage and fireworks.
Helminen considers the emissions from fireworks reasonable in relation to the experience it produces.
– The fireworks organizer has calculated that one firework emits the same amount of emissions into the environment as heating a wood sauna 1-3 times.
The fireworks will take place on the same night as the Earth Hour climate event, but one hour before. After the fireworks, the side program of the Games continues at the Sports Center.
According to Helminen, there was a dialogue with the Earth Hour organizers, but turning off the lights for an hour was found to be impossible for safety reasons.
According to Jaana Helminen, they did not want to replace the competition sausage, which also belongs firmly to the competition tradition category, with a vegetable sausage, but a local producer was sought for it.
The International Ski Federation launches a responsibility strategy together with the people of Lahti
– Kisamakkara was a sacred thing then, and it seems to be a sacred thing today, laughs Pajunen.
However, water evoked the most emotions at the 2017 World Championships. Instead of good groundwater from Lahti, the official competition water was packed in a cardboard container and brought from abroad.
– From that was the lesson that the whole chain must be reviewed, so that something similar does not happen.
Nani Pajunen currently works as a sustainable development expert at the consulting and design company AFRY. He considers it important that the actions held responsible and their justifications be opened up and proven to be true.
– The owner of a competition brand, no matter what sport it is, must have instructions and criteria on how to organize responsible and sustainable competitions.
It is also important to include clear rules in sponsorship agreements that require transparency in operations.
Jaana Helminen hopes for the same. According to Helminen, FIS is now preparing its own responsibility strategy.
– They have actually challenged us to do it, that is, we get to influence what the International Ski Federation may instruct in the future. I think that’s a particularly good thing.
*You can discuss the topic until 23:00 on Friday 24 March 2023.*