State Treasury’s Sustainability Report 2021

The State Treasury promotes the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal8 Decent work and economic growth in its activities through the following duties.

• State support for companies during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, the State Treasury was the most significant individual allocator of state coronavirus subsidies. A total of 780 million euros worth of coronavirus subsidies were paid during the year.
• Credit ratings build the economic base. The State Treasury is responsible for the Finnish government’s relations with international credit rating agencies. The assessments prepared by them concerning Finland are utilised even by investors who manage assets in massive volumes when making their investment decisions. The government’s credit rating is the basis on which the credit ratings of Finnish companies are build.
• A partner in work safety.The State Treasury has a role in the state’s working life safety net. The State Treasury handles the compensations for occupational accidents and occupational diseases suffered by civil servants.
• Support for working life and the capability to reform. The State Treasury’s Government Finance Administration, Information and Working Life Management Division’s Working Life Services team supports the state’s organisations’ capabilities to reform, work community functionality and well-being at work as well as the efforts to promote sustainable development.
• Occupational rehabilitation supports employees in staying in working life. Occupational rehabilitation is compensated by the State Treasury in the areas of traffic accidents, occupational accidents, occupational diseases, military accidents and service-related illnesses. The aim of the rehabilitation is to support the injured person’s in staying in working life even when they have health-related limitation caused by an accident.

The State Treasury promotes the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure in its activities through the following duties.

• Company loans promote future solutions. The State Treasury manages the product development and start-up loans granted by the Innovation Funding Agency Business Finland. The State Treasury aims to ensure that the loan recipient can withdraw their loan without delay.
• A joint project contributes to the building of the economic infrastructure. The State Treasury has an active role in the Real-Time Economy project led by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office. The vision of the project is to make Finland the most competitive operating environment where services have been transferred to the web and are compatible with each other by 2030. The State Treasury’s responsibility in the project work is the digitalisation and standardisation of business documents.

The State Treasury promotes the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 Sustainable cities and communities in its activities through the following duties.

• Interest subsidies and government guarantees for housing communities. The State Treasury administers interest subsidy loans that have been granted for the construction, renovation and acquisition of rental and right-of-occupancy properties. The State Treasury ensures that the administration and payment of interest subsidies and government guarantees is done responsibly and in accordance with legislative requirements. It contributes to the achievement of social housing environment goals.
• Support for private individuals’ housing financing. The State Treasury has the duty to administer the interest subsidies and the government guarantees for home ownership loans in accordance with the Home Saver’s Bonus scheme (so Called ASP scheme) as well as other private individuals’ government guarantees for home ownership loans. The purpose of the ASP scheme is to support young people in purchasing their first owner-occupied apartment and to promote home saving. The government guarantee scheme aims at supporting homebuyers in achieving their preferred type of housing and guaranteeing owner-occupied housing.
• Revitalisation measures for vital housing communities. The State Treasury administers loans granted by the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA) and Arava loans granted by municipalities. The State Treasury is in charge of the tasks that follow a loan decision and the financial revitalisation measures of rental properties and right-of-occupancy communities. The revitalisation measures help rental housing corporations to, for example, manage with the properties’ renovations and maintenance.

The State Treasury promotes the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 Peace, justice and strong institutions in its activities through the following duties.

• Services for citizens ensure legal protection
  • Legal protection as the target of leadership and supervision. In 2021, the State Treasury’s Services for Citizens Division serve administrative customers by producing nearly 30 different services in the areas of disabled war veteran and war veteran affairs, compensation for damages, representation of government interests and business cost support. The division worked determinedly to ensure that the processing of affairs was done appropriately and without delay.
  • Compensation for wrongful imprisonment and conviction. The State Treasury grants compensations for suffering, loss of income and expenses directly caused by wrongful deprivation of liberty and travel ban. The State Treasury promote legal protection by aiming for equal treatment of applicants, while taking the specifics of each case into account, in its decision-making. In 2021, the compensation functions adopted electronic management of documents, which supports the compensation functions
  • Compensations based on state liability. The State Treasury has the duty to, for their part, ensure that officials’ liability for damages is equal and appropriate and that the person who has been damaged by the actions of an official receives an appropriate compensation for the damages without disproportionate efforts. When the matter is resolved at the State Treasury, the claimant will receive an objective decision more quickly and affordably than in court proceedings.
• Exploreadministration.fi brings openness to administration. The State Treasury’s exploreadministration.fi website was established to promote good and transparent public administration. Exploreadministration.fi serves all administrative customers and stakeholders by offering them up-to-date and easily accessible information.
• ESG communications on the sustainability of society. The State Treasury supports Finland in distinguishing itself in the international bond market by investing in the communications related to Finland’s ESG strengths. In 2021, the State Treasury published a new section for international investors on its fi website. The section offers an up-to-date overview on how Finland mitigates global warming, promotes social well-being and strengthens good governance.

The sustainability report’s footprint section focuses on environmental impacts of the State Treasury’s activities in four main areas: energy and water, transport, procurement and waste. The following are examples of the measures we have taken in 2021 to reduce the footprint of our activities:

Energy and water

CASE: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a significant share of the energy and water consumption happening during workdays transferred from offices to the increasing number of remote working stations. In spring 2021, the State Treasury’s eco group published an article series on eco-friendly remote work in the agency’s intranet. The series included two articles on smart energy use.

Transport

CASE: Since the end of 2021, the State Treasury employees who rent a parking place in the agency’s parking garage are offered the opportunity to acquire an electric car charging service in their parking place.

Procurement

CASE: In 2021, the State Treasury produced its electronic Christmas greeting in cooperation with WWF for the second year in a row. The theme of the Christmas greeting was the Baltic Sea.

CASE: In 2021, the State Treasury began to use carbon neutral printer paper.

Waste

CASE: In 2021, the State Treasury initiated the recycling of printers’ Lexmark ink cartridges with the help of Valtori. The recycling will expand to also cover Ricoh ink cartridges in 2022.