Green economy?

Local, sustainable and resource-efficient, that’s what Green Economy is all about!

Green Economy is a great opportunity for Northern sparsely populated regions to benefit from local natural resources and inhabitants’ competence. The actual beneficiaries of the green economy are municipalities, businesses and local inhabitants.

The implementation of green economy procedures requires bold decisions in municipalities and businesses. Competence and experience-based knowledge of Green economy procedures and best practices are required to support the decisionmaking.

GRUDE – Green Rural Economy is an Interreg Nord program project focusing on communications and information sharing. The project involves the Northern parts of Finland, Sweden, and Norway and offers information the businesses and municipalities need to support their decision making. The project activities include regional and international workshops and information campaigns. The project also promotes the construction of a Green economy network.

GRUDE keywords

Green economy | Economic growth based on renewable resources and environmentally sustainable businesses.

  • is seen as energy and material-efficient economic system which maintains (economic and social) human well-being and prevents damages to biodiversity and ecosystems.
  • can be seen both as an environmentally sustainable “green” way of doing business or replacing fossil resources with “green” renewable biomass resources.
  • involves both economic, social and environmental sustainability.
  • the aim is to fulfill previous sustainability goals by increasing knowledge and networking.
  • to accomplish the goals, knowledge, green attitude, courage and faith in the future are needed.

Arctic bioenergy | Bioenergy from the arctic using local renewable biomass resources.

  • is seen as energy production based on local renewable biomasses in Northern/Arctic areas.
  • sources of bioenergy are forests, fields, agriculture and biobased industrial side streams and wastes
  • aim is to increase the value of raw materials and create new value chains to utilize biomasses
  • cooperation and refinement of new and traditional products is required to accomplish the aim.

Blue economy | Business based on the sustainable use of renewable aquatic resources and water expertise.

  • consists of makers of biological and mineral products from the ocean, and their suppliers
  • aim is to turn circular and make use of most of the residual raw materials from their productions
  • in order to achieve this, the actors will need access to research and sharing best practices from others.

Sustainable societies | Sustainable community development based on initiatives and innovations on the local and regional level.

  • focus on providing sustainable solutions for everyday life practices of residents in municipalities and villages
  • solutions are needed especially for the sustainability of movement, energy sources, food supply, waste management, and tourism industry – not forgetting the quality of life.
  • the aim is to collect and share best practices applied in municipalities, SME:s, NGO:s and local communities.
  • This will be done by bringing together experts, authorities, and residents to share and invent best practices.
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The actions in GRUDE are about collecting, refining and sharing information such as best practices, know-how, tools, operational models and networks through:

  • Workshops: local, regional events to collect and cooperate, network and share information
  • Greennovation Camps: international, creative and multidisciplinary open conferences to learn, develop and cooperate
  • Information Campaigns: knowledge sharing in local, regional events and media to promote knowledge of Green Economy