The application period for the Baltic Sea Project 2020 is now open!
The application period for the funding call of the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project 2020 opens today. This year we are giving up to €500,000 to support projects that improve the state of the Baltic Sea.
The funding call is now being held for the sixth time. In previous years, funding from the Baltic Sea Project has enabled the establishment and development of a number of startups as well as the implementation of various innovations and ideas for a healthier Baltic Sea.
– If you or your organization have an idea that could help the Baltic Sea, we can help it become reality. We believe that real change is possible when we work together. That’s why we’re once again pledging significant amounts of money to projects that improve the state of the Baltic Sea, says Anne-Maria Salonius, Head of Finland Division at the Bank of Åland and Jury Chairperson of the Baltic Sea Project.
The Bank of Åland’s main goals with the Baltic Sea Project are to support projects that will have a tangible impact on the health of the Baltic Sea and to increase awareness of the state of the sea.
– The Baltic Sea is in critical condition. We need fresh ideas and innovations for conservation. The Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project is a fantastic opportunity for startups to get the funding that they need in order to grow and develop their projects. Big visions can give birth to miracles, says Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell.
Paananen and Skype’s founder Niklas Zetterström sit on the jury of the Baltic Sea Project as it evaluates digital innovations.
In over two decades, the Bank of Åland has spent nearly €2,745,000 in support of various organizations in their vital environmental work.
Major funding for startup innovations
Funding provided by the Baltic Sea Project has been used in previous years to enable a number of different startups to achieve their goals, from planning a new factory to product development and pilot projects.
Solar Foods, an Espoo-based startup that uses air to make protein, received €50,000 from the Baltic Sea Project in 2018 for designing their new factory in Finland.
– You should definitely apply for funding whether your project is big or small, or whether it’s happening now or a little later, like in our case. The funding allowed us to design our first factory. It also gave us a chance to tell people what the future of food might look like in practice, says Pasi Vainikka, CEO of Solar Foods.
The Baltic Sea Project has also funded the likes of Sulapac, a company developing biodegradable alternatives to plastic packaging, and Johannes Myllykoski, who invented a device for collecting marine plastics and founded the company Clewat Oy to develop the device further.
– Startups have become key recipients of the Baltic Sea Project’s funding, because often they have completely fresh ideas on how to help the Baltic Sea. We’re very proud of the projects we’ve chosen to fund and we keep a close eye on their progress, says Salonius.
Who can apply to get funding from the Baltic Sea Project?
Funding from the Baltic Sea Project is available, for example, to companies, foundations, and research projects with a concrete goal. Applicants do not need to be established names in their field. What matters is that the applicant has an idea to make a meaningful impact on the health of the Baltic Sea.
– Human activity leaves its mark on the Baltic Sea for good and for ill, and our sea still needs all the help it can get. The Baltic Sea Project is our way of encouraging everyone to take part in the sea’s conservation, says Salonius.
Last year the Baltic Sea Project gave €445,000 to support the work done by various actors to help the Baltic Sea. The largest amounts went to the John Nurminen Foundation, the Baltic Sea Action Group, the Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association and Emmaus Åland. Read more about the projects funded in 2019 here!
The amount of Baltic Sea Project funding is based on the total deposits on the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Accounts. Each year the Bank of Åland donates to environmental protection a sum equaling up to 0.2% of all deposits on Baltic Sea Accounts
Contact:
Anne-Maria Salonius
Head of Finland Division, The Bank of Åland, Finland
tel. +358 40 733 1106
anne-maria.salonius@alandsbanken.fi
Crista Tammela
Marketing and Communications Manager, The Bank of Åland, Finland
tel. +358 40 646 3501
crista.tammela@alandsbanken.fi
The Baltic Sea Project works for a healthier Baltic Sea by funding great ideas and spreading awareness of the state of the sea. Through the Baltic Sea Project, the Bank of Åland wants to inspire other organizations to develop great ideas that help the environment.
Supporting environmental projects has been a key part of the Bank of Åland’s operations since 1997. To date, the Bank of Åland has spent nearly €2,745,000 supporting the vital environmental work done at big and small organizations alike. Each year the Bank of Åland donates to environmental protection a sum equaling up to 0.2% of all deposits on Baltic Sea Accounts.
Together for a healthier Baltic Sea – the Baltic Sea Project funds some of Finland’s biggest Baltic Sea actors
The Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project strengthens its partnerships with Finland’s biggest Baltic Sea actors by funding their projects and activities to heal the Baltic Sea. In 2019, the total amount of funding from the Baltic Sea project reaches a record €445,000. The largest amounts go to The John Nurminen Foundation, the Baltic Sea Action Group and Emmaus Åland. (A list of all the recipients is found at the bottom.)
The application period for the Baltic Sea Project 2019 was open from early summer to the end of September. We received a total of 95 applications that all had the goal of helping the Baltic Sea.
Funding is based on the amount of deposits on the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Accounts. The Bank of Åland donates to environmental protection a sum equaling up to 0.2% of all the deposits on Baltic Sea Accounts. 2019 was the fifth time the Baltic Sea Project’s funding call was held.
The decisions made by the jury of the Baltic Sea Project are meant to enable long-term cooperation with various actors.
– All the actors chosen for funding have excellent projects. We wanted to strengthen our ties with them because we need effective partnerships in order to have a real impact on the Baltic Sea. We’re very happy to be able to support so many important projects and actors, says Anne-Maria Salonius, Head of Finland Division at the Bank of Åland and Jury Chairperson of the Baltic Sea Project.
Partnerships resulting from long-running environmental work
The list of funding recipients includes several major Baltic Sea actors, such as the John Nurminen Foundation, the Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association, WWF Finland and Race for the Baltic. Keep the Archipelago Tidy gets €40,000 for their visual campaign highlighting the issue of marine litter. The John Nurminen Foundation gets €80,000 as the Bank of Åland commits to a long-term partnership as a main supporter of the foundation.
– The Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project has brought incredible energy and visibility to Baltic Sea protection that simply can’t be overlooked. We need this right now, because climate change is boosting eutrophication, which is the most serious environmental problem for the Baltic Sea, making conservation more challenging in many ways. We believe that the Baltic Sea can still be saved if the Bank of Åland and the various other actors pull together, says CEO of the John Nurminen Foundation Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt, FT/PhD.
The partnership that we started last year with the Baltic Sea Action Group on the Living Baltic Sea project for the sea’s biodiversity gets €80,000 of continued funding.
– We can change things if we work together, and that’s why we want partners that share our goal of improving the state of the Baltic Sea. These partnerships are a result of the Bank of Åland’s long-standing commitment to Baltic Sea protection, says Salonius.
In over 20 years, the Bank of Åland has spent nearly €2,745,000 to support the vital environmental work done by various organizations.
– By funding all these projects and actors through our annual funding call we can transform each of our customers’ deposits into concrete actions to protect the Baltic Sea and the environment, says Salonius.
Largest amount goes to Åland
Other funding recipients this year were Emmaus Åland and ReGeneration2030.
Emmaus Åland gets €120,000 of funding split over two years, which is the single largest amount this year. The funding allows Emmaus to go ahead with their project that illustrates the water cycle and how it affects us and our environment.
– Emmaus Åland has been practicing urban agriculture for a few years now. Thanks to funding from the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project, we can now realize our dream of a water cycle park. For our society to be sustainable we need to incorporate the water cycle into the way we think and act. The water cycle park will show you that it’s not that hard to do. This is a place where everybody gets to participate and feel and see that they really are a part of the water cycle, says director Robert Jansson from Emmaus Åland.
ReGeneration2030, a movement of youth and young adults, gets €50,000 to start a foundation. The movement is working toward a more sustainable society in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In previous years, the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project has also enabled the founding and development of a number of startups. Startups remain extremely important to the bank.
– We’re watching the development of the startups that we’ve funded with great interest and excitement, and we’ll always be there to support them. Startups continue to be key recipients of Baltic Sea Project funding because it takes fresh innovation to save the Baltic Sea, Salonius explains.
Results of the funding call for the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project 2019:
Keep the Archipelago Tidy, Project ”Belly Ache from Plastic”: €40,000
John Nurminen Foundation, main supporter: €80,000
Emmaus Åland, water cycle: €120,000 (two-year funding: €60,000/year)
ReGeneration2030, starting a foundation: €50,000
Baltic Sea Action Group, the Living Baltic Sea project: €80,000
WWF Finland: €25,000
Race for the Baltic: €50,000
The Clean Beach program: €90,000 (three-year commitment 2019–2021: €30,000/year)
Information
Anne-Maria Salonius, Head of Finland Division, Bank of Åland, tel. +358 40 733 1106
The Åland Index reaches 40 million customers globally
Ålandsbanken Abp
Press release
December 10, 2019
Banks with over 40 million clients team up with Doconomy to enable customers to track their CO2-footprint and Mastercard invest to enable more to do the same
Doconomy, a Stockholm based fintech startup will through their recently launched software offering Åland Index Solution enable banks with a total of 40+ million clients to track the impact of their customers consumption.
To fuel this offering and fast track a global roll out, Mastercard makes an equity investment in Doconomy.
Bank of the West, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, becomes the first bank in the U.S. to team up with Doconomy, as is Nordea in the Nordics.
Doconomy’s corporate offering, Åland Index Solution, is a cloud-based software service to track the CO2 emission of every transaction. The solution helps consumers to understand their impact and reduce their footprint as it connects each transaction to its impact on the planet. The solutions offer a proven, independent climate calculation and is based upon leading financial data. The tool, originally developed and implemented by The Bank of Åland, is now further enhanced with data, covering 99% of global market cap, through a new partnership with Trucost, a part of S&P Global that assesses and prices risks relating to climate change, natural resource constraints, and broader environmental, social, and governance factors.
“Putting our comprehensive carbon impact metrics alongside the financial transactions of consumers provides important visibility to inform the transformative decision making that is needed to accelerate the low carbon transition. We are proud to support this innovation with our expertise as well as our passion for conscious decision making.” said Richard Mattison, CEO, Trucost, part of S&P Global.
Today early movers, BNP Paribas through its subsidiary Bank of the West in the U.S. and Nordea in the Nordics, announce that they also will join The Bank of Åland in enabling clients to track and measure their CO2 impact through the Åland Index.
”We are proud to see Åland Index Solutions support Bank of the West and Nordea in their ambition to engage customers in understanding their climate impact and reducing their footprint. They lead the way for consumers and banks, that aim at contributing to the Paris Agreement. Bank of the West is one of the only major U.S. banks that has chosen to restrict the financing of activities harmful to the planet, and is also accelerating energy transition and developing renewable energy, making them the ideal partner for our entrance into North America.” said Helena Mueller, Head of Åland Index Solutions at Doconomy.
“Consumers have realized that their purchasing actions have the power to impact positive change. That’s why Bank of the West is thrilled to be the first U.S. bank to team up with Doconomy and let consumers track the environmental impact of their purchases,” said Nandita Bakhshi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of the West
Also, in the Nordics, home turf for Doconomy, pace is picking up as Nordea’s clients now can make use of insights for everyday climate action.
“Together with our 9 million customers we can make a difference and combat global warming and climate change. As from today our customers using digital banking services get insight into their individual carbon footprint. We want to encourage them to use this data to make an impact on the environment and climate. Nordea’s modern mobile platform with more than 1 billion touchpoints per year gives an excellent opportunity to visualise the environmental impact of everyday spending to our customers”, says Sara Mella, Acting Head of Personal Banking at Nordea.
Today Doconomy and Mastercard also extended their joint effort to combat climate change. This new arrangement enables any Mastercard issuer to offer their cardholder the ability to track and understand their carbon footprint based on purchases made.
"Addressing climate change is bigger than any one company. This is an important next step to continue progress and move from promise to action. We've made commitments to manage our own impact through science-based targets and renewable energy. Now, we’re helping to accelerate the action our cardholders can take every day,” said Mark Barnett, divisional president for UK, Ireland, Nordic and Baltics, Mastercard.
As part of the expanded relationship, Mastercard make an equity investment in Doconomy to enable the carbon tracking and offsetting platform to additional markets.
“This is a milestone moment in battling climate crisis. As the world comes together for the UN Climate Change Conference COP25, we’re putting even more power in the hands of people to have a positive impact on their – and the planet’s – future," said Nathalie Green, CEO of Doconomy.
Through Doconomy’s collaboration with United Nations Climate Change, to educate and engage individuals around climate action, additional innovative tools to explain the impact of our choices are being developed. Coming releases include a next generation UN carbon footprint calculator.
“We all have a responsibility to contribute to the solutions for the climate emergency we are experiencing. Time is running out. Many individuals are willing to do their part, but in many cases they find it difficult as they don’t know what else they can do. Through our collaboration with Doconomy, we hope to provide clear, effective channels to support these individual’s daily climate action” said Niclas Svenningsen, Manager, Global Climate Action, UN Climate Change Secretariat.
Doconomy’s overall vision is to help achieve a sustainable lifestyle for all and to engage 500 million people globally by 2025 in reducing their carbon footprint and in driving financing and investments towards the urgently needed climate solutions. Åland Index as a global standard for impact calculations on everyday transactions aims to contribute with at least 1 billion ton in CO2 reductions by 2025.
“Since 2016, our Bank’s customers have been able to monitor the environmental impact through Åland Index. Together with Doconomy we are now happy to see our initial idea of spreading Åland Index and the awareness that comes with it to other banks and their customers, come true,” says Anne‐Maria Salonius, Director for the Bank of Åland in Finland.
Find out more at https://doconomy.com and at https://alandindexsolutions.com/
For more information, please contact:
Nathalie Green, CEO Doconomy
mobile: +46 70 606 93 05, nathalie.green@doconomy.com
Helena Mueller, Head of Åland Index Solutions, Doconomy
mobile: +46 73 0242451, helena.mueller@doconomy.com
Masse Benesch, Head of Communications
mobile: +46 73 314 14 34 masse.benesch@doconomy.com
About Doconomy
Doconomy AB, founded in 2018, is a fin-tech startup that aims to provide digital solutions to help use money as a tool for positive climate change. Doconomy's first consumer service, DO, a mobile banking app, helps manage savings and reward development towards sustainable consumption. The Aland Index, developed by partner bank Ålandsbanken, is used for impact calculations. Doconomy invites all banks and financial market participants to engage in global climate action via using the Åland Index Solutions platform of services, covering calculation, integration, communication and activation. Follow Doconomy on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram: @doconomy
About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.
About Nordea
At Nordea, we build strong and close relationships through our engagement with customers and society. Whenever people strive to reach their goals and realise their dreams, we are there to provide relevant financial solutions. We are the leading bank in the Nordic region. The Nordea share is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Copenhagen and Nasdaq Stockholm exchanges. Read more about us on nordea.com.
About Ålandsbanken
Ålandsbanken is a bank with strong customer relationships and personalised service. The Bank has extensive financial investment expertise and at the same time can offer good financing services. The commercial bank was founded in 1919 and has been listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Oy (Helsinki Stock Exchange) since 1942.
The Bank of Åland’s Head Office is in Mariehamn. The Bank has three offices in the Åland Islands, five offices elsewhere in Finland and three offices in Sweden. A total of two subsidiaries, whose operations are connected in various ways to banking, belong to the Bank of Åland Group.
About Bank of the West
At Bank of the West, we know money deposited in a bank has the power to finance positive change. So we are taking action to ensure our activities help protect the planet, improve people’s lives, and strengthen communities. We are redefining banking for a better future by focusing on areas where we believe we can have a real impact: supporting energy transition, helping enable women entrepreneurs, and financing innovative start-ups. As the bank for a changing world, Bank of the West is committed to sustainable finance along with our parent company BNP Paribas. Through Digital Channels and offices across the U.S., Bank of the West provides financial tools and resources to more than 2 million individuals, families and businesses.
© 2019 Bank of the West. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. Doing business in South Dakota as Bank of the West California.
Apply now for Baltic Sea Project 2019!
The funding call for the Bank of Åland’s Baltic Sea Project is open now. This year, we are giving out more money than ever before, up to €500,000, to support projects that improve the state of the Baltic Sea.
It is the fifth funding call for the Baltic Sea Project. In previous years, the Bank of Åland’s support has enabled the launch and development of a number of startups.
“The Baltic Sea Project has had applications from some incredible initiatives and projects in previous years that are already bearing fruit. We’re very proud to watch the growth of the projects that we’ve funded,” says the chair of the jury for the Baltic Sea Project, Anne-Mari Salonius.
The Baltic Sea Project has provided funding for, among others, the Espoo-based startup Solar Foods, which makes protein out of air; Sulapac, which is replacing plastic packaging with biodegradable materials; Johannes Myllykoski, who developed a device for collecting marine plastics and founded the company Clewat Oy to develop it further; and Wapulec Oy, which is removing pharmaceutical traces and other harmful substances from waste water.
Funding from the Baltic Sea Project has been used for designing factories, product design, multi-year projects and pilot initiatives.
Funding available for big and small players alike
In addition to supporting startups, the Baltic Sea Project has funded several large Finnish organizations that work to improve the health of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea Project has supported, among others, WWF Finland, BSAG, The John Nurminen Foundation and the Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association. Research organizations like the Finnish Environment Institute and the University of Helsinki have also received funding from the Baltic Sea Project.
“We’re funding a variety of projects that help the Baltic Sea, because we all have the same goal: to improve the state of Baltic Sea and increase awareness of it,” says Salonius.
The Baltic Sea Project welcomes applications from, for instance, companies, foundations and research projects aiming for concrete results. Applicants do not need to be established names in the field.
“We’re not just looking for projects that are already under way. If you have an idea that could help the Baltic Sea, the Baltic Sea Project could help you make it a reality,” Salonius confirms.
Record pot for the Baltic Sea
Last year, the Baltic Sea Project received 128 applications and gave out a total of €300,000 in funding. This year, the amount of funding is increased to as much as €500,000.
The is made possible by the increase in savings on Baltic Sea Accounts, a product of the Bank of Åland. The Bank of Åland donates to environmental protection a sum equaling 0.2% of all the savings on Baltic Sea Accounts.
The Bank of Åland, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, has so far spent nearly €2,300,000 supporting the important environmental work done by big and small organizations alike.
“We want to be involved in improving the health of the Baltic Sea, and the Baltic Sea Project is one way of doing that. We also have the Baltic Sea Card. It’s the world’s first payment card that’s made of environmentally friendly materials, and it’s coupled to the Åland Index, which shows the environmental impact of your purchases,” says Salonius.
Read more about the funding call and apply now on the Baltic Sea Project’s website. Applications close on September 30. The projects selected for funding will be announced at the start 2020.