“Mayor Bass and Finnish Trade Minister Tavio Forge Partnership to Drive Climate Action and Economic Growth

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today signed a historic Letter of Intent or LOI with the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland Ville Tavio that will promote climate cooperation and economic development between the City of Los Angeles and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland for the first time in history. The agreement is the result of more than two years of collaboration on shared goals for carbon neutrality and the clean energy transition and will further propel Los Angeles to achieve 100% clean energy by 2035. 

 Click here to watch the press conference. 

The Letter of Intent includes four key areas for collaboration: 

• Smart and Green Ports;
• Smart and Sustainable Mobility and Transit;
• Decarbonizing the Built Environment; and
• Renewable Energy and Grid Resiliency.

Within the past week, Mayor Bass announced that the City of Los Angeles captured 5 billion more gallons of stormwater in February 2024 than February 2023 and secured federal funding to increase composting practices, reduce food waste and continue building a greener Los Angeles. In addition, Los Angeles is leading the way on electrifying our transportation system, with the most electric vehicles and electric vehicle chargers of any metro area in the United States. 

Read the Letter of Intent below, minus legal agreement information: 

Letter of Intent Between the City of Los Angeles and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland  Concerning Cooperation and Peer Learning Opportunities to Accelerate the Green Transition to Achieve Carbon Neutrality Goals 

The City of Los Angeles aims to be carbon neutral by 2050 or earlier and has ambitious sustainability goals regarding decarbonization, ensuring a just green transition and promoting job growth. The objective of the Finnish climate law is for Finland to be carbon-neutral by 2035.

As both the City of Los Angeles and Finland are leaders in the green transition, peer learning and collaboration between the Participants can further support and accelerate the innovation for identifying best practices and optimal solutions. The dialogue between the City of Los Angeles and Finland can also contribute positively to broader international climate cooperation. 

This Letter of Intent formalizes our shared commitment to reach a carbon neutral society with sustainable and innovative solutions. 

Scope of Collaboration

The following key areas are listed here as a starting point for collaboration. The intent is to lay the foundation for mutually beneficial cooperation and expand into other areas related to the green transition to a carbon-neutral society over time. The transition also requires adopting circular economy principles and practices by reducing, reusing and recycling our limited natural resources.

1. Smart and Green Ports – Both Participants recognize the importance of transitioning towards sustainable port operations, reducing emissions, and promoting clean and efficient transportation logistics. Collaboration on sustainable ports can enable the Port of Los Angeles and Finland ports to remain competitive, facilitate both cargo and job growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet stringent local environmental standards. Areas of collaboration include environmental initiatives and sustainability efforts to lower overall emissions and greenhouse gasses from port operations that include vessels, terminal equipment, drayage trucks, tugboats and locomotives, and new sustainable fuels for port operations. Digital solutions to improve supply chain efficiency, logistics optimization, communication networks, assisting technologies, related software and cyber security.
2. Smart and Sustainable Mobility and Transit – Finland aims to share learnings and co-develop solutions to help solve the complex mobility challenges that Los Angeles faces. These solutions will leverage what has worked in the Nordic countries and might be adapted for the needs of Los Angeles. Areas of collaboration include intelligent transport technologies and services, zero emission vehicle services, EV charging solutions, 5G technology enabled assisting technologies and improved connectivity, and alternative fuels.
3. Decarbonizing the Built Environment – Recognizing that built environments are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, Finland and Los Angeles will work together to share effective strategies and policies aimed at decarbonizing the built environment. Areas of collaboration include retrofitting projects and sustainable and smart tools for design, circular economy, clean construction practices, life cycle analysis and carbon footprint assessment, and digitalization.
4. Renewable Energy and Grid Resiliency – For both Los Angeles and Finland to become carbon neutral, an intensive green transition to renewable energy is needed. Compared to fossil fuel energy production, zero emission renewable energy production is more versatile and thus may put pressure on grid resilience. Los Angeles has made significant investments in renewable energy technologies and has been ranked as the number one solar city in the United States. Finland has one of the most advanced smart grids in the world with smart grid functionalities such as load profiling, real time billing, demand response and distributed power generation. Both Participants aim to spearhead the adoption of green hydrogen solutions to their respective renewable energy needs. Areas of collaboration include advanced smart grids and hydrogen solutions for decarbonization.

Collaboration and Peer Learning

The Participants intend to collaborate in the following manner: 

• Share, as appropriate, information, research data and experiences on best practices, policies and regulations;
• Facilitate the development of direct contacts and partnerships between relevant public and private sector actors, with the aim of linking the innovation and business ecosystems of the City of Los Angeles and Finland;
• Encourage and promote dialogue, networking and cooperation between public agencies, ecosystems, companies and research organizations through visits, workshops, conferences, trade shows, meetings and other activities, which are mutually beneficial and accepted by both Participants;
• Participate in other arrangements that will allow collaboration of joint activities of mutual interest, like piloting and testbed cooperation and feasibility studies;
• Co-develop and support partnerships in creating ecosystems, introducing new business models, and public-private partnerships;
• Other forms of collaboration, when jointly agreed by Participants.