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29.1.2026 | Ympäristöministeriö valmistelee rakentamislakiin uutta säännöstä, joka määrittelisi millainen asunnon lyhytaikainen vuokraus olisi sallittua. Hallituksen esitys rakentamislain muuttamisesta on tarkoitus antaa eduskunnalle maaliskuun aikana.

9.1.2025 | Minister of Employment Arto Satonen will travel to Vietnam and the Philippines from 11 to 18 January 2025. The purpose of the visit is to create a cooperation model between Finland and the countries to promote international recruitment.

19.6.2023 | As part of the Ministry of the Environment's Sustainable City programme, twelve experiments on sustainable urban development were carried out between 2022 and 2023. They focused on inclusion, interaction and solutions that cut across dimensions of sustainability. The results included, among others, a local sustainable development agreement model, a digital portal for resource wisdom work that suppo...

13.12.2022 | Sixteen Finnish municipalities are taking part in in the work on challenge clusters under the Sustainable City Programme. The aim is to tackle the most difficult sustainability challenges that cannot be solved by individual organisations or sectors alone. The three themes selected on the basis of the needs of cities are: urban green spaces in increasingly built-up cities, urban planning that ta...

6.3.2025 | The Government submitted a legislative proposal relating to micromobility to Parliament on 6 March 2025. The aim of the proposal is to improve the safety of electric scooters and other micromobility vehicles.

13.6.2022 | The project carried out by the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE ‘Indicators for sustainable urban development’ was a multi-stage participatory process to draw up a proposal for key indicators for sustainable urban development. The aim is to support cities, ministries and other stakeholders in monitoring sustainable urban development. The follow-up project to be started now will test the key indicators that have been identified in municipalities interested in this work.

19.10.2024 | Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's opening speech at the International Conference on Environmental Safety, Point 8 of the Ukraine's Peace Formula, Helsinki 19 October 2024. (Check against delivery).

28.4.2022 | The European Commission has selected six Finnish cities, Tampere, Turku, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Espoo and Helsinki, as European pioneers that aim to achieve carbon neutrality already by 2030. In all, 100 cities were selected from among 362 applicants in the EU. Nine cities in Finland applied.

9.2.2021 | The State has concluded agreements with 16 urban areas to strengthen innovation activities. The objective of the agreements is to build innovation ecosystems, in other words, to intensify cooperation within networks, strengthen key competences and increase effectiveness of RDI activities. The content of the agreements is based on the local strengths of urban areas and they relate to comprehensive and current topics of carbon reduction, digital technology, and wellbeing and health.

9.2.2023 | Finland has around 50,500 civil defence shelters with space for about 4.8 million people. Finland has a sufficient number of places in shelters. Civil defence shelters are located in large cities in particular. The highest number of places in civil defence shelters in relation to the population can be found in the Greater Helsinki area and Pirkanmaa. This is evident in the preliminary data of the Ministry of the Interior’s report.

1.9.2022 | The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has granted municipalities EUR 3 million to develop guidance and counselling services for immigrants. The subsidies were awarded to 21 projects implemented by municipalities, which aim to improve the integration and employment of immigrants. 

9.11.2023 | The Government has decided to grant Kymenlaakso a total of EUR 6 million to mitigate the impact of sudden structural change. The region is looking for new growth in the battery and food sectors, in particular. In all, the development package for Kymenlaakso amounts to ca. EUR 9 million.

27.1.2023 | Future development areas for the event sector include identifying the impact of the sector, removing obstacles to growth, and improving the compilation of sectoral statistics and data. These are the conclusions of a report by the event industry organisation Tapahtumateollisuus ry. The report was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

11.2.2022 | The new EU regional and structural policy programming period will further accelerate the development of urban innovation ecosystems and launch national innovation and skills network activity. On 10 February 2022, the Government allocated a total of approximately EUR 21.6 million of Innovation and Skills in Finland programme funding for the implementation of ecosystem agreements and approximately EUR 6.9 million for the launch of a national innovation and skills network in 2022.

25.5.2021 | During the past two years the Sustainable City programme, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, has proven an important instrument in creating cooperation and boosting practical changes towards sustainability. Now an interim evaluation has been conducted to help develop the programme, that will run until 2023, so that it will serve the needs of towns and cities of different sizes even better. In future stronger focus will be placed on impact and communication.

9.2.2023 | The Government has adopted a resolution on Finland’s third National Roma Policy (ROMPO 3). The key objective of the National Roma Policy for 2023–2030 is to support Roma inclusion, participation and equality and to end discrimination by tackling antigypsyism.

1.12.2020 | Making use of the individual opportunities of regions and urban development are the key means by which the EU aims for sustainable and just development and growth after the COVID-19 crisis. This is why a new emphasis should be placed on EU-level cooperation in urban policy and on a policy that highlights the special characteristics of regions and cohesion. Ministers responsible for urban matters ...

4.2.2021 | On 4 February 2021, the Government allocated EUR 8 million to regional councils for regional development and EUR 5 million for the launch of ecosystem agreements between the State and cities. In addition, EUR 400,000 was granted to the Regional Council of Päijät-Häme for the sudden structural change caused by the closure of a bus body manufacturing plant by Scania’s subsidiary SOE Busproduction Finland Oy in Lahti.

17.5.2021 | Today, on Monday 17 May, Prime Minister Sanna Marin will visit the cities of Pori and Rauma. During her visit, the Prime Minister will meet with representatives from the cities and the regional council to discuss topical issues in the region. The visit will be organised with special consideration for health safety.

16.12.2021 | On 16 December, the Government submitted a report to Parliament on the development of housing policy. The report summarises the principles and objectives for housing policy and presents solutions to housing challenges for the years to come. The housing policy development programme aims to provide good and affordable housing for everybody. The key objective of the development programme, implemented in 2021–2028, is to promote a long-term perspective in housing policy.