Climate forerunner brand : case Finnish municipalities
Nousiainen, Niina (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020120125296
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020120125296
Tiivistelmä
This thesis was commissioned by the Finnish Environment Institute’s Canemure - Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities and Regions -project. The author was commissioned to research the climate forerunner brand in Finnish municipalities. The objective was to research how such a brand is formed and what benefits does it bring the municipalities. Does communications play a part in brand building was also researched.
The author used both secondary and primary data in this research. Secondary data was used to build a framework about climate forerunner brand. Secondary data included concepts and theories about place branding, municipal branding, green branding and climate communications. Primary data was qualitative and collected by semi-structured interviews of four Finnish forerunner municipalities: Ii, Joensuu, Lahti and Lappeenranta.
From primary and secondary data could be found that municipalities base their climate brand on implemented climate actions, which are then communicated in different ways and via different communication channels. The climate action messages are engaging, positively toned and targeted towards the residents and other stakeholders within the municipality, but also nationally and internationally. A climate action forerunner brand can bring many different benefits for the municipality such as increasing positive attitudes towards climate change mitigation actions, new residents, tourists, made the municipality’s decision-making processes more sustainable, and gained international recognition.
The author used both secondary and primary data in this research. Secondary data was used to build a framework about climate forerunner brand. Secondary data included concepts and theories about place branding, municipal branding, green branding and climate communications. Primary data was qualitative and collected by semi-structured interviews of four Finnish forerunner municipalities: Ii, Joensuu, Lahti and Lappeenranta.
From primary and secondary data could be found that municipalities base their climate brand on implemented climate actions, which are then communicated in different ways and via different communication channels. The climate action messages are engaging, positively toned and targeted towards the residents and other stakeholders within the municipality, but also nationally and internationally. A climate action forerunner brand can bring many different benefits for the municipality such as increasing positive attitudes towards climate change mitigation actions, new residents, tourists, made the municipality’s decision-making processes more sustainable, and gained international recognition.