Carbon Lane -project

Project reports for Climate-KIC

Project is organized by the Climate-KIC partners: Aalto University (project lead), University of Helsinki and City of Helsinki. The steering group and partners include central actors of the Finnish green building and gardening sectors.

Why urban green areas?

Helsinki, like several other cities, has a goal to reach carbon neutrality. Green urban areas are actively maintained, new ones are built and soil is processed. This opens novel opportunities for innovative solutions which do not only draw down the carbon but also improve the condition of the green areas, simultaneously providing additional social benefits.

Hyväntoivonpuisto – Jätkäsaari

The City of Helsinki is currently building a new residential area, Jätkäsaari, a fill-in peninsula located in the shoreline of the city’s central area. The size of the new residential area is 100 hectares, and it will accommodate 21 000 new residents. The demonstration area will constitute a part of a residential park (Hyväntoivonpuisto) in a central location at Jätkäsaari. This location offers an excellent opportunity to support both citizen engagement and the further development of market offers by participating business actors. The purpose is to implement biochar based planting soils in the area which include around 80 trees. Carbon Lane does not affect the landscape or architecture of this area. 

The aim of biochar based planting soils is to improve carbon sequestration and to increase the carbon content in the soil. In addition, the planting soils also contribute towards the well-being of trees and other flora while easing their maintenance. Biochar can also be used to replace some of the fossil components in the planting soil, such as peat.

Project management

• Prof. Mikko Jalas, Aalto University, The School of Arts, Design and Architecture
• University Lecturer, Docent, Priit Tammeorg, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Anu Riikonen, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
• Project Manager, Petra Rantalainen, City of Helsinki

Contact person:

Mikko Jalas - [email protected]

Carbon Lane in Media:

Yle News 22/09/2019: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10980630

Links:

• Helsingin Kaupunki – Jätkäsaari (uuttahelsinkia.fi)
• Hiilineutraali Helsinki 2035 -toimenpideohjelma - Helsingin kaupunki (pdf)
• The challenges and potential of circular procurements in public construction projects - Produced as part of the EIT Climate-KIC Circular Cities project (climate-kic.org)
• "4 per 1000" Initiative (4p1000.org)
• European Academies Science Advisory Council - Negative emission technologies (easac.eu)
• IPCC Global Warming of 1.5 ºC  (ipcc.ch)
• Biohiili ja sen käyttömahdollisuudet viherrakentamisessa - Intra (pdf)
• Suomen Biohiiliyhdistys (www.suomenbiohiili.fi)

Market-driven solutions

The project concentrates on market-driven and commercially available solutions. The project also aims to increase the awareness of these solutions and the companies providing them to domestic and international actors such as other European cities. The project provides support in product development for the companies through workshops and feedback. In addition, several plating soil types will be used in the park and they will be placed in a way that allows scientific monitoring. Moreover, the project will estimate the proposed solution’s relevance and potential impact from the climate target’s perspective, and propose new standardised solutions for further construction.