Sustainability at the State Treasury

”Sustainability stems from all the duties the State Treasury has had over these 140 years.”

The State Treasury’s shared values and strategy are the foundation for sustainability in its activities. The State Treasury’s values are the common good and the customer’s best interest and well-being and development.

According to one of the objectives set in the State Treasury’s strategy (2020), “we operate responsibly and keep on developing our operations and competences”. Also: “We take overall responsibility: we have functional sustainability reporting, apply high ethical standards and lead the way in environmental matters.”

The regulatory basis for the sustainability of authorities’ activities is the good governance referred to in the Constitution of Finland (731/1999) and the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003). The State Treasury adheres to the legal principles of good governance in its activities.

“Sustainability often means forming an overview of how well the activities adhere to the State Treasury’s values.”

In the State Treasury, sustainability is managed as a part of carrying out the agency’s duties. Sustainability is a built-in perspective taken into account in all matters handled by the management and in the promotion of the objectives. A perspective is concretised by asking, for example, are the State Treasury’s activities transparent, do they stand up to scrutiny, are they public enough, do they adhere to the agency’s values and are they in taxpayers’ best interest?

The State Treasury’s management share the vision that promoting sustainable development is a significant theme.

On 21 May 2010, WWF granted the State Treasury offices in Helsinki with permission to use the Green Office certificate. After a special application and assessment process, the certificate and the related diploma are awarded to companies and communities with their own environmental programme that meets the Green Office criteria. The core targets of the environmental programme have been the reduction of energy and paper consumption and streamlining waste sorting.

The State Treasury’s environmental programme was adopted on 23 January 2008. In practice, its goals have been implemented by the Ekoryhmä, or eco group, consisting of representatives from various divisions and units. For now, the core targets of our environmental programme have been the reduction of energy and paper consumption and streamlining waste sorting.

Promoting sustainable development at the State Treasury did by no means culminate with the Green Office diploma. Instead, we continue with our work in keeping with the environmental programme. Our work is supported by the positive attitudes towards eco-friendly thinking as well as the WWF assessment procedure, which ensures that an environmental programme inspector will visit the State Treasury regularly.

Read more about the WWF Green Office certificate on the WWF website >

“Sustainability cannot be detached from the agency’s other activities. It is an integral part of the State Treasury’s business operations.”

For several years, the State Treasury has reported on the sustainability of its activities in a free format in the annual report of the agency’s final accounts. The introduction of the shared central government reporting framework initiated a new phase for the reporting. From the spring of 2022 onwards, the reporting follows the guidance on sustainability reporting in central government it issued by the State Treasury to the Finnish ministries, agencies and institutions on 2 September 2021.

The State Treasury uses its annual sustainability report to communicate to its stakeholders about its efforts to promote sustainable development. The report states how the State Treasury’s activities promote the achievement of 3–5 UN Sustainable Development Goals it has selected. The focus of the sustainability report and the reported activities are selected separately for each year.

State Treasury’s Sustainability Report 2021 (PDF) >