Green Summit Finland 2022

Event Report

The Green Summit Finland 2022 hosted by Castrén & Snellman in Helsinki on 8 June 2022 marked the inaugural event associated with The Legal 500’s new Global Green Guide and brought together leading practitioners and in-house counsel from across the country and region to discuss the legal sector’s contribution to a green transition.

After a welcome address and opening remarks by Sakari Lukinmaa, managing partner at Castrén & Snellman, and Anna Bauböck, editor of The Legal 500 Global Green Guide, two panel discussions addressed accelerating the green transition through sustainable finance as well as corporate sustainability due diligence and cooperation respectively.

The first panel chaired by Minna Korhonen, counsel at Castrén & Snellman, examined newest trends in sustainable finance, how the taxonomy regulation is changing requirements that financiers or investors are imposing on companies as well as main obstacles to green finance. Speakers shared their best practices and highlighted some positive measures to support and accelerate the green transition through green finance.

We heard from a broad range of in-house legal professionals working in the sustainable finance space with Tita Anttila, general counsel at Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) bringing her view from an international finance institution which exclusively provides capital to projects with a positive impact on the environment and climate; Annina Tanhuanpää, director of ESG and responsibility at OP Financial Group, sharing her perspective from one of the largest financial companies in Finland; and Maria Neovius, head of debt financing team at NREP, joining remotely from Denmark with her experience at a real estate fund manager.

Key take-aways from the first panel included:

Sustainable finance has a key role to play in a green transition, both in the public and private sector.
The development in sustainable finance has been rapid, and the volume of financing in this sector has increased every year.
The taxonomy is intended to provide clarity on which economic activities can be classified as environmentally sustainable. The related reporting obligations are a massive task and no uniform approach has yet been formed. Both the lender side and the borrower side struggle to solve this issue.
Biodiversity issues are the newest focus in the area of green finance and taxonomy as biodiversity loss is accelerating dangerously fast.
The panellists concluded that the success of sustainable finance is a joint task for every market participant and everyone can make a difference.

The second panel, chaired by Anna Kuusniemi-Laine, Head of Sustainability at Castrén & Snellman, focused on the main impacts of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in practice and how this impacts the role of lawyers. Speakers discussed how managing ESG reputational risks differs from managing legal risks, how the growing need for sustainability is changing the compliance function, and how lawyers may need a change of mindset.

Again our speakers brought a wide range of perspectives: Marina Louhija had valuable insights from the energy sector through her work at the Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid Oyj, where she is senior vice president – director and general counsel, responsible for legal affairs and administration, compliance and sustainability; Riitta af Forselles, head of legal, M&A and corporate at Neste, was able to share her views from a company which went from local oil refiner to a global leader in renewable and circular solutions, including becoming the world’s leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel; and Vesa Rasinaho, senior counsel at Castrén & Snellman, brought to the table his in-depth expertise in corporate governance and corporate law in Finland having participated in drafting the current Limited Liability Companies Act.

Key take-aways from the second panel included:

The coming Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will put sustainability issues on lawyers’ agenda. (If these issues are not already there due to the Taxonomy, reporting obligations or company strategy.)
Lawyers have a great role to play in implementing the green transition in practice through advising the management, drafting new types of contracts and Code of Conduct terms as well as through compliance work. In these roles lawyers could take a proactive role in accelerating the green transition.
The due diligence exercise is not just about avoiding risks but about identifying the environmental and human rights impacts and avoiding negative impacts in the company’s own operations, their subsidiaries and their value chains.
Lawyers should be focusing on the possibilities of making a positive impact as well as reputational ESG risks in addition to legal risks.
Now is the perfect time for lawyers to learn the ESG language.

After some inspiring and motivational audience comments surrounding current state and future of ESG in the legal sector as well as brief closing remarks from Kuusniemi-Laine, the evening was rounded off by a drinks reception giving participants and speakers a chance to mingle, network and continue the conversation.

Testimonials

‘The Legal 500 Green Summit came to Finland yesterday. So energising to be surrounded by legal professionals focusing their talents on giving life and soul to ESG. Congrats to Castrén & Snellman for submitting such a strong ESG submission to the Legal 500, that the summit came to Helsinki.
I loved panelist Marina Louhija‘s tongue-in-cheek rallying cry to have lawyers learn “ESG language”… Maybe not so tongue-in-cheek though, as some language learners are already coming our way here at Bright Blu Dot. We can do this, People! Together we move towards more sustainable futures.’
Emma Jelley, Director & Coach, Bright Blu Dot

‘Fantastic event! Thanks Legal 500 and Castrén & Snellman for putting this together.’
Hanna Carver, Legal Counsel, Wärtsilä Energy

‘I still have a very good and warm feeling about the Green Summit on 8 June. Thank you to excellent panelists and participants, Ben Lovell and Anna Bauböck as well as The Legal 500 (Legalease). Thank you Marina Louhija, Riitta af Forselles, Tita Anttila, Annina Tanhuanpää, Maria Neovius as well as colleagues Minna Korhonen, Vesa Rasinaho and Sakari Lukinmaa for inspiring lawyers to put ESG issues on the agenda. Thank you Niina Koivisto and team at Castrén & Snellman for making this event happen.’
Anna Kuusniemi-Laine, Head of Sustainability at Castrén & Snellman