Ostavastuullisesti.fi is a service focused on responsible consumption, launched by Infine on November 23, 2020. It offers support, help, and tips for making sustainable choices. The website features responsibly produced products and services, making it easier for consumers to make sustainable purchasing decisions. The aim of the site is to bring together people who want to live more sustainably with companies that offer responsibly produced products or services.
We know that the world cannot sustain current consumption levels. The core idea of the website is based on the understanding that consumption will not end, but making more sustainable choices is difficult for consumers. Ostavastuullisesti.fi solves this problem by providing positive information and a selection of products from which consumers can easily choose responsible options. There is a need for a reliable and clear service—according to Sitra’s “Resource-wise Citizen” study (2019), sustainable living is important to 78% of consumers.
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Defining responsible products and services is challenging, as responsibility is not a straightforward characteristic. It is difficult for consumers to navigate through greenwashing and compare various sustainability challenges. Marketing communication cannot be blindly trusted—for example, the value chain of a product advertised as responsible may contain links that do not withstand scrutiny. To make these choices easier, all products and services on the website are approved by an independent Responsibility Panel.
The Responsibility Panel consists of five leading Finnish experts: Professor Minna Halme (Aalto University), Professor Jyri Seppälä (Finnish Environment Institute, National Climate Panel), PhD candidate Antti Majava (BIOS Research Unit), Education Counselor Anne Liimatainen (Finnish National Agency for Education), and Markus Terho (Sitra, Sustainable Everyday Life project). The selection of products and services is based on curation by this independent Responsibility Panel. Thanks to the curation process, consumers do not need to be experts themselves—they can trust that the sustainable choices featured on Ostavastuullisesti.fi are genuinely impactful.
Community of Responsible Consumers
One of the missions of the site is to have a broader impact on society, which is why a campaign encouraging more sustainable consumption has been launched. The idea of the campaign is to collect a pledge from consumers to strive to buy responsibly whenever possible. The goal is to gather 192,500 pledges, representing 3.5% of Finland’s population—a figure that research shows is enough to bring about lasting change. The goal is to create a new responsible consumption market and influence not only consumers’ everyday lives but also the values and practices of companies and societal actors. When we buy responsibly, the selection of responsible products grows.
Companies and Partners
Only products and services curated by the Responsibility Panel are featured on the Ostavastuullisesti.fi website. Companies can apply to be featured on the site with individual products, product lines, services, or solutions. As part of the responsible selection on the site, a company gains visibility and credibility on an independent platform that consumers can trust. Ostavastuullisesti.fi offers not only product listings but also content collaboration opportunities for the curated participants.
The site already has more than 200 responsible products and services, and influential partners are involved, including Sitra, UN Global Compact, the Central Chamber of Commerce, Aalto University’s Finix project, Perho Culinary, Tourism and Business College, and Textile & Fashion Finland. Through its partnership with JCDecaux, Ostavastuullisesti.fi reaches consumers not only in the online environment but also through nationwide outdoor advertising campaigns. Social media campaigns and commercial collaborations help spread awareness of the sustainable offerings and the companies providing them beyond the platform’s own channels.
The website has quickly established its user base and proven to be a much-needed service that makes a complex topic more understandable and accessible for its target audience. Feedback from consumers consistently emphasizes the need for support in making more sustainable choices. When consumers find it easy to choose attractive and sustainable solutions for everyday needs, consumption shifts towards sustainable products and services. As a result, the overall market for sustainable products and services grows.