Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd.
Finland
Signatory of Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism
Climate Action Plan 2023 - 24

About our company• Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd (Visit Lahti) is the regional DMO in the province of Päijät-Häme inLakeland Finland. The main functions of the company are development of tourism services in theregion, marketing, tourism image building, sales and brokerage of tourism services.
• Our company is committed to developing sustainable tourism both inside of our own company and inthe whole Lahti region. Our company has been awarded the EcoCompass environmental certificate andthe national Sustainable Travel Finland label.
• Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geopark unit is part of Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd. Salpausselkä
Geopark unit has also its own Sustainable Travel Finland label• Development of sustainable tourism and co-ordination of the national Sustainable Travel Finland
program in regional level is commonly lead by Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd and its Salpausselkä
UNESCO Global Geopark unit.
• Our aim is to get the regional Sustainable Travel Finland label in 2025 for the whole Lahti region.
• The city of Lahti was nominated the European Green Capital 2021 as the first city in Finland. The
pioneering environmental activities of the city and its goal to become a carbon-neutral city already by2025 helps also us and all the tourism related companies in our climate work.

1. Measure1. We measure• Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd has measured its carbon
footprint from the year 2022. The report is published in ourwebsite.
• Our total carbon footprint in 2022 was 54.1 tonnes CO2equivalent• Most of our emissions came from logistics, which
accounted for almost 67% of total emissions.
• Most of the emissions from logistics were generated bybusiness travel.

2. Decarbonise2. We decarbonise• We use public transport on our business trips whenever it is possible• When travelling on business we change the airplane to other means of transport when it’s possible andreasonable.
• If we take the plane we favor direct connexions when they are available• We encourage our landloard to change the source of our electricity from ”mixed energy” to ”green energy”• We sort our waste• We avoid printing and do most of our marketing digitally.
• When doing any printed marketing material we use sustainable paper• In our own events we offer primarily vegetarian food produced in the Lahti region• We enable remote working to our employees in order to avoid transport emissions• We encourage all the customers to use public transport when coming to our region and when moving aroundthe region• We encourage our customers to favor activities with low CO2 emissions, such as hiking, berry picking, skiing,
canoeing etc.
• We encourage our customers to use locally produced food, drinks and services

3. Regenerate3. We regenerate• We keep our nature trails in good condition and encourage ourcustomers to use only marked nature routes• We keep the regional information about marked nature routes
available and in good condition for example inwww.outdooractive.com portal• We constantly monitore the number of vistors in our nature sites
and in case of excess flow we steer the customers to other sites• Our employees participate to different national and local actions
which aim to improve the state of nature (for instance thegarbage collection campaign ”Miljoona Roskapussia” in 2023).

4. Collaboration

4. We collaborate• Being part of the Lahti city business group Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd. isan active participant of the ”Lahti’s 2030 Sustainable Energy and Climate Action
Plan (SECAP)”• Together with our stakeholders we are following the guidelines and actions ofthe regional “Action plan of sustainable tourism 2023-30” (only in Finnish)• Together with our local travel industry partners we are developing- measures to count the carbon footprint of our meeting and conference customers andactions to reduce it- measures to count the carbon footprint of our (sport) events and to create a consept toproduce (sport) events with very low carbon emissions• Together with our travel industry partners we are heading towards the regional”Sustainable Travel Finland” destination status and aim to reach it in 2025.
• We inform the local inhabitants and visitors about our climate actions andsustainability work in order to envolve them to common work.

5. Finance5. We finance• Development of sustainable tourism in the Lahti region is one of thecore tasks of Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd. and its Salpausselkä
UNESCO Global Geopark.
• City of Lahti and other municipalities of the region are committed tofinancing our company and the Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geoparkunit.
• Climate work is included into the development of sustainable tourism• Lahden Seutu – Lahti Region Ltd. has additional funding to its
sustainablity and climate work in the EU-funded project ”SMART –Lahti Region as a smart tourist destination” between 1.1.2023 –30.6.2024• Additional funding to the development of sustainble tourism will also be
sought in connexion of the upcoming project.

Contacts for more information:
Ms Raija Forsman | raija.forsman@lahtiregion.fi
Mr Arto Asikainen | arto.asikainen@lahtiregion.fi
www.visitlahti.fi | Facebook @visitlahti | X @VisitLahti
Instagram @visitlahti_official | LinkedIn @visitlahti#visitlahti #lahtiregion #lakelandfinland #salpausselkageopark