It only takes a quiet moment in the forest outside Billnäs for Finnish sustainability to become apparent.

If you’re lucky, someone like Sami Tallberg will guide you through the experience. Tallberg, a master forager and chef, searches the base of spruce and silver birch for chanterelle, woolly milkcap and penny buns hiding amid the moss.

“These mushrooms are here for us now, and they will be here for us next year,” he says. “They’re the essence of sustainability.”

Helsinki aspires to be the world’s most sustainable destination. If you ask, tourism officials will also show you presentations on their sustainability goals, outlining their plans to become carbon-neutral and then carbon-negative within a generation.

But there’s nothing like seeing it for yourself—walking through the woods with Tallberg to understand how foraging keeps the region’s cuisine sustainable, visiting Billnäs Gård, a historic villa that’s been turned into a luxury boutique hotel, or seeing a new five-star hotel in Helsinki that has sustainability built into it.

We are recycling furniture and a villa at Billnäs Gård.

About a one-hour drive west of Helsinki, Billnäs Gård, a six-room boutique hotel, unfolds a remarkable sustainability story.

“I’ve always been interested in sustainability,” says Taina Snellman-Langenskiöld, who founded Billnäs Gård with her husband, Chris. “But when I started at university, there was no sustainability as such that you could study — all we had was environmental management.”

Snellman-Langenskiöld found her way to sustainability as a designer interested in antique furniture. That led her to the doorstep of a dilapidated Billnäs Gård Manor House, designed by architect Waldemar Aspelin in 1910. Three years ago, the couple envisioned returning the building to its former glory.

Returning the 1912 villa to its former splendour took over two years of restoration. Carpenters had to replace rotting timber and rip up the decaying floors. They rebuilt its crumbling stairs and meticulously matched the original colour before repainting the building. They moved from oil heating to a geothermal heating system and fine-tuned a silent, gravity-based ventilation system in the rooms. And, of course, they had to redesign the floor plan to accommodate the needs of modern guests, which included a bathroom and shower in each room.

Snellman-Langenskiöld says the restoration prioritized natural materials and showcased traditional craftsmanship and expert carpentry.

“We avoided using plastic materials and recycled materials like old doors and spare parts as much as possible,” she says.

Chris Langenskiöld had a complementary vision of sustainability that focused on wellness. He helped turn the cellar into a spa and sauna and designed a garden with a pool modelled on other exclusive European boutique properties. He took Billnäs Gård’s chef on a food tour of France to infuse the new restaurant with a French flair. Langenskiöld says his food philosophy is based on seasonality and local ingredients, coming from a few nearby small farms, and a strong preference for organic ingredients.

“We wanted this to be a place where you could come to feel like you had travelled far away but were actually close to home,” he says.

Billnäs Gård is meant to be a retreat for people from nearby that feels like a faraway place, like Southern France. Doing so would encourage locals to vacation close to home and reduce their carbon footprint.

The idea of recycling an old building is happening in Helsinki, too.

Hotel Maria: An office building gets a second act.

One of Helsinki’s newest hotels is also recycled. It’s a series of four buildings built between 1885 and 1930, around the same time as the original Billnäs Gård villa. The buildings, which had served as offices and quarters for the Finnish armed forces, needed top-to-bottom remodelling.

Heli Mende, Hotel Maria’s director of business development, says Finnish regulations required that the new hotel have certain sustainability features, such as adequate insulation and a recycling program. However, the new owners wanted to take the concept even further.

“We have advanced systems that help us save energy and water,” she explains. “The hotel has state-of-the-art technology for heating control and food waste monitoring.”

Maria has the paperwork to prove it, including a Green Key certificate, the approval of the Finnish Heritage Agency for its refurbishment, and a commitment to buying local produce for its restaurant. Over 40 per cent of its wine list is dedicated to organically farmed grapes.

You might not notice that when you check into one of its spacious rooms. But pay attention to the iPad on the wall, and you’ll see a lot of technology behind the scenes. The lights and temperature controls ensure the building saves as much energy as possible.

Mende says the Maria didn’t want to lecture its guests about sustainability but rather to make it easy to be green. The hotel decided to bake its green initiative directly into the new five-star property instead of separating the two. Still, the telltale signs of a sustainable hotel are all there, from the absence of single-use plastics to the presence of green certifications. Mende says guests can rest assured that the hotel is doing everything possible to preserve natural resources and be sustainable.

That’s a message Helsinki tourism officials hope will resonate in the city no matter where you go.

Helsinki wants to be number one for sustainability.

The Finnish capital does not mince words regarding its sustainability goals: It wants to be number one. According to the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDSI), a key measure of sustainability, it is currently working toward the top position in the large city category.

“Every year, we do better,” says Jukka Punamäki, Helsinki’s senior advisor for tourism. “I think maybe next year we’ll get there.”

After our interview, Helsinki did indeed better — it is now number one on the list.

The GDSI rates are based on factors such as air pollution levels, the number of cycling paths, and eco-friendly hotel rooms. Helsinki’s sustainability efforts are sprawling and include social, ecological, economic, and cultural sustainability programs.

Punamäki, echoing what many of his colleagues in the tourism industry say, notes that Helsinki isn’t sustainable because it will attract more visitors but because it is the right thing to do.

“People here feel this is the way we need to go,” he says. “And we’ve also seen that there is a demand for a more sustainable destination, which is why we’ve been doing this for many years now.”

Punamäki says the city still has some work to do, notably with traffic and reducing its emissions so it meets its emissions goals for 2030, by which time it plans to be carbon-neutral. However, real sustainability progress is made incrementally, with hotels that exceed what’s required and visitors supporting these common-sense goals.

Despite all these programs and projects, it is easy to lose focus on overall sustainability. Indeed, most visitors from abroad are unlikely to visit a place based solely on a Green Key certificate or GDSI score. But still, having a sustainability program may tip the scales in Helsinki’s favour.

In Finland, a search for harmony

Back in the forest of Billnäs, Tallberg is also talking about sustainability, but of a different kind. Finnish people have a legal right to forage on land, called Jokaisenoikeus, or “Everyman’s Right.” It allows people to roam the forest to gather berries and mushrooms, no matter who owns it.

Perhaps Jokaisenoikeus gives Finland an edge when it comes to sustainability. There’s an understanding that everyone has a right to the environment and a responsibility to maintain it. In exchange, the forests of Finland will be there for them year after year, providing them with mushrooms and lingonberries.

“We’re finding our inner balance,” he says. “We’re finding our harmony. And that’s how we are sustainable.”

Helsinki’s approach to sustainable tourism is as multifaceted as the chanterelles hidden amid the pine trees. It’s about recycling historic buildings, embracing green technology, and honouring ancient traditions. But more than that, it’s about fostering harmony between people and nature, progress and preservation. Helsinki may not be at the finish line regarding sustainability, but it is getting closer.

 

 

 

Written by: Christopher Elliott

 

 

BIO:
Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at chris@elliott.org.

 

 

 

 

 

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