Concrete plays a big role in planet-warming emissions. It’s the world’s most common synthetic material and most-consumed resource besides water. Along with other environmental and health impacts, concrete generates as much as 8 percent of all CO2 emissions, mostly from its key ingredient, cement. Indeed, if the cement sector were a country, it would be the world’s third-biggest CO2 emitter. An array of Finnish firms and researchers are working to turn concrete from a climate problem into a solution for carbon storage. The market for such carbon-negative “green concrete” is set to grow rapidly ..read more

Nature attracts and influences many artists in Finland. They seek out meditative moments of calm in the forest or choose studios located near nature areas. They often use or depict natural materials in their artworks: wood, clay, leaves, flower petals, or in one case even the wings of dead birds. The artists in this article recount how their work reflects their thinking about biodiversity, ecosystems, land use and the relationship between humans and nature. They also examine modern society, human beings and questions of identity and community. In studio visits and interviews all around Finland ..read more

Esa-Pekka Salonen is one of Finland’s most established conductors and composers. His dedication to redefining classical music in the 21st century has included working with top orchestras, opera houses and festivals worldwide. He has previously conducted orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony. The Polar Music Prize, founded by ABBA manager Stig Anderson in 1989 and considered one of the most prestigious awards in music, is bestowed annually upon one contemporary musician and one clas ..read more

The International Day of Happiness takes place annually on March 20, accompanied by the World Happiness Report, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In 2024, Finland occupies the top spot on the report’s list of the happiest countries in the world for the seventh time in a row. The other Nordic countries usually join Finland in the top ten – this year, they are all in the top seven: Denmark is second, Iceland third, Sweden fourth and Norway seventh. Life evaluations Enjoying life: These strange mounds and windows are part of Amos Rex, a museum of contemporary art ..read more

The Siida Sámi Museum and Nature Centre, located in the far-northern town of Inari, Finland, reopened in 2022 after renovations and the installation of a new permanent exhibition, These Lands Are Our Children. The museum then proceeded to break all previous attendance records. The Sámi are the only recognised Indigenous People in the EU area. Their northern homeland, called Sápmi, is divided into four parts by the borders of the nation-states Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. In addition to the museum, the Siida building also houses a shop, a restaurant, Inari Tourist Information and the Nor ..read more

The best ideas are often the simplest. In 1955, Arvi Lehti, a farmer in Pertteli, near the town of Salo in southwestern Finland, bought an injection moulding machine for making plastic objects. He was also interested in the reflective properties of prisms. He started making reflectors out of clear plastic for trailers and horse wagons. In 1963, he hit upon the idea of creating two small reflectors and gluing them together back-to-back. You could attach them to your coat using string and a safety pin. That’s how the life-saving pedestrian reflector originated in a Finnish village. Pedestrians a ..read more

“Sauna culture in Finland” is on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the country is known as the sauna nation – English and many other languages have adopted the Finnish word sauna, making it part of the global lexicon. Nowhere else is the sauna woven as closely into the fabric of daily life as in Finland. It’s only natural that people in Finland don’t overlook any aspect of the quintessential Finnish steam bath, and that includes interior design. A sauna’s interior is as important as its setting – preferably in or near nature – and as significant as the quality of its löyly, th ..read more

In recent years, Finnish films and series have captivated international audiences. For example, the crime series Deadwind with Pihla Viitala as the leading star and Bullets starring Krista Kosonen have attracted attention on TV. Bordertown was one of the first Finnish Nordic noir series. Entangled in crime Please accept all cookies to see this content or watch content here. Watch the season two trailer for Arctic Circle, in which a Finnish police officer investigates an ominously secretive international hunting club in Russia and also reopens the unsolved case of a brutally murdered Olympi ..read more

You can find island communities in many places along the coasts of Finland, but you only have to glance at a map to see that the thickest archipelago extends into the Baltic Sea around the southwestern tip of the country. The whole coastal and archipelago region has traditions that go back hundreds of years in fishing and trading, not to mention farming and hunting. The people there nourish many of those traditions in the present day, as well. Archipelago knowledge Please accept all cookies to see this content or watch content here. See how kids on an island in southwestern Finland learn a ..read more

Let’s get one thing straight: the Antila-Suurpää family is not too keen on IT. At least the grown-ups, Petra Antila and Tuomas Suurpää, feel that way. And yet, Petra has more than a dozen useful applications on her phone, providing access to electronic services. She has two banking apps, two parking apps and two medical centre apps. She also has applications for public healthcare, communicating with her child’s football team, public transport, the library, museums, parcel tracking and many other purposes. Although Petra and Tuomas say that they are not particularly well informed about the digi ..read more