Author: Saara Salmivaara

Climakedo researcher Kamilla Karhunmaa has received two years of funding through the Säätiöiden post doc –pooli from the Emil Aaltonen foundation to conduct her post-doctoral research in Belgium. Her research project “Offsetting the way into carbon neutrality” examines how voluntary carbon offsetting is perceived as a form of climate action amongst consumers, carbon offset producers and policy makers. In Belgium, Kamilla will be based at the Spiral centre at the University of Liège.

Saara Salmivaara was granted a 4-year doctoral school funding for her thesis which investigates ‘climate-conscious’ consumption strategies through voluntary carbon offsetting and ‘slow fashion’. Saara was selected one of the 10 applicants who received a Sustainable Development themed salary position, granted by the University of Helsinki through the Doctoral Programme in Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences.

Climakedo researcher Tomi Lehtimäki defended his thesis “Organizing natures: Justification and critique in the development of organic agriculture in Finland” on December 4, 2021. Grounded in pragmatic sociology, the thesis examines how discussions over the values of organic agriculture developed from the 1980s onwards in Finland. The thesis highlights ways in which the difference between organic and conventional agriculture has been constructed. The defence was held at the University of Helsinki with Professor Anders Blok serving as the opponent.

Together with researchers from the University of Tampere and the University of Eastern Finland, Climakedo researchers organized a working group at the Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science’s fall colloquium. The theme of the working group was the problematization and enquiry into the growing carbon and biodiversity markets.

Our researchers were involved in two presentations. The first one examined citizen’s views on voluntary carbon offsetting based on a nationally representative survey, showing that offsetting is still a relatively unknown and unsettled phenomenon amongst consumers. The second presentation analysed carbon offsetting from an infrastructural perspective, focusing on the types of continuities and disjunctions that are present in the post Paris Agreement climate negotiations.