The purpose of the Nessling Foundation’s sustainable practices guidelines is to ensure that the principles of sustainability transformation are also reflected in the project’s own practices by supporting projects in making sustainable choices already during the project planning and budgeting phase. At present, the guidelines cover instructions related to travel and catering within the project. We require the guidelines to be taken into account in the project application and during project implementation.
Travel guidelines
Project activities may sometimes involve travel within Finland or abroad. We require our grant recipients to take these travel guidelines into account when planning and using travel funds.
- Is travelling necessary?
Carefully consider which conferences, meetings or other events are essential to attend in person. Could participation take place virtually? - Travel by land
We encourage grant recipients to travel by land whenever possible. Those travelling abroad from Finland can use the Maata pitkin website and online services such as Omio, Trainline or Deutsche Bahn to help plan their journey. - If you fly, make the most of your stay at the destination
If flying is necessary, consider whether you could combine your trip with work or leisure time at the destination, allowing you to stay there longer. Prefer direct flights over connecting flights. - Offset emissions
We recommend budgeting not only for travel costs, but also for offsetting the climate emissions caused by the trip. For offsetting, you can use, for example, Hiilipörssi, the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation or another reliable provider. To calculate flight emissions, you can use international flight emissions calculators, such as ICAO or the airlines’ own emissions calculators.
Guidelines for catering
If you are applying for funding for catering related to project events, such as seminars, workshops or other gatherings, we require that you take the sustainable catering guidelines into account.
- Serve only vegan food
Catering funded by us should be vegan. Any exceptions must be well justified. In the project report, we ask you to specify any catering purchased with the funding and explain if non-vegan options were served. - Prioritise seasonal and local products
We recommend prioritising seasonal and, where possible, locally produced products. - Minimise food waste
Minimise food waste through careful planning and by matching the amount of catering to the number of participants. Therefore, always aim to estimate the number of participants as accurately as possible in advance.
Consider the data footprint
We will update our sustainable practices guidelines in 2027 with more detailed guidance on data use and the material footprint of data. However, we ask you to already take into account that artificial intelligence has significant climate and environmental impacts. Good data management also involves considering how data is collected, stored and processed.