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UN SDG GUIDE 2022 UN CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE TRONDHEIM
SYSTEM INNOVATION? EVOLVING HOW WE THINK AND WORK
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Mid-Norway’s leading organisation for coaching and training former inmates, and those struggling with long-term drug addictions into functional. Hogst provides relevant manual work training, often in physical labour such as forestry, introducing them to new skills and opportunities for work, aiming to mentor participants into employment.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Jarle Hvidsten / Visit Trondheim
It’s a strange neo-society time following the Covid-19 pandemic, where people are just now returning to a new-norm and attending events, thinking systematically and with societal focus. The List has meanwhile kept busy reinventing our contributor model, by expanding from the physical magazine and launching a blog-like site to share what’s going on in Trondheim, to further engage your inner socialite. Share your thoughts at thelist.no We’ve also forged new collaborations. The List is happy to announce our partnership in a global project with the UN Sustainability Centre in Trondheim, where we’re on a mission to collect and share stories of how everyday people do their part to make our cities and villages better places to live. We look at partnerships. How governtment organisations are taking new roles and thinking about long term goals, in short-term actions, effectively realising goals through ‘system innovation. We do this by changing behaviours, patterns, and cultures to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recording these stories and hoping to inspire a next generation of thinkers, is part of the plan. Our work with the new UN SDG Guide, delivered to 56 UN United Cities across the globe, could not be possible without the support of Sparebank1 SMN Stiftelse. Thank-you! Trondheim is one of a few cities in the world that has been invited into a nine-year UN project to ‘self-report’ on progress. The aim is to provide examples of change and storytelling, where small, everyday actions like using an electric bike, reducing your digital archives, or ensuring that you include younger women into places of decision-making – like board of directors – all contribute to meeting SDGs. This issue explores and defines concepts like innovation systems, innovators and Sustainable Value Creation. We’ve interviewed Kari Aina Eik, one of the city’s good partners, who is currently helping Trondheim improve how we improve programs and company policies. We have also ‘deconstructed’ some heavy topics like systematic innovation and impact, hoping to engage new business partners, government officials and citizens to get involved. Social innovation means creating access, both socially and physically, to spaces where decisions are being made, and ideas can be manifested. We hope that we can inspire you to get out there and be part of shaping solutions!
THE LIST UN SDG Guide thelist.no a division of The List Media AS Contacts and information: Located at DIGS, Krambugata 2 7011 Trondheim, Norway Business/Publishing: +47 47370153 Editorial: saria@thelist.no Circulation (ave.): 5,000 Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder Jaya Thomlison jaya@thelist.no Managing Editor Rolf Dyrnes Svendsen rolf@thelist.no Marketing Editor David Skarbø david@thelist.no Photography Editor Jéleena del Prado jeleena@thelist.no Project Coordinator & Writer Saria Wail saria@thelist.no Content Producer & Writer Elise Gull Askim elise@thelist.no
Design Lewis McGuffie CONTRIBUTORS Samah Elsaadi Kristian Mjøen Gregory Thomlison Courtney Killion Emma Thomlison Emma Steer Rosalee Thomlison The Board McKenna Starck Rolf Dyrnes Svendsen Arnstein Hellem Jaya Syltern Thomlison For more information about distribution please contact jaya@thelist.no COVER Photography by Mr. Yoshi & Patrick Webb Heaps Good Production Printing Soporset 100g Skipnes, Travbaneveien 6, 7044 Trondheim Tel: 73 82 63 00 www.skipnes.no
Jaya Thomlison, Editor-in-chief NO - 1598
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CONTRIBUTORS
Samah Elsaadi Evidence-based policy advisor at the Centre for Sustainable Development in Trondheim, sharing knowledge and smarter solutions to connect the Nordics and Lebanon.
Saria Wail Saria Wail is one of Norway’s few female hip hop/ R&B artists and a local recording artist featured on NRK 'Untouched’. She is entrenched in Sudan’s music scene, where she was born and raised until the age of 14. She is currently studying International Studies at Oslo New College and resides permanently in Trondheim. Saria brings a lively, inclusive and worldly perspective to The List. Her journalism pushes for representation.
Elise Gull Askim Elise Gull Askim has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Høyskolen Kristiania, and has been working as a journalist since 2019. She has a passion for equality, human rights, and the environment. Elise is a staff writer at The List and also works part-time at Fretex due to her passion for fashion and vintage clothing.
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Courtney Killion Courtney Killion originally stems from Massachusetts, USA. She has her bachelors in Political Science and her master degree in Globalization and Sustainable Development from NTNU. She currently works as the digital content manager for the Sustainability Center in Trondheim. Her passions are to present information in the most creative and entertaining ways possible. In her free time you can find her gaming and baking!
Kristian Mjøen Head of the Centre for Sustainable Development in Trondheim — a UN Centre of Excellence since 2019, supporting local doers and connecting good initiatives everywhere in the global arena.
Emma Thomlison Emma Thomlison is an artistic fairy of the creational void using whatever medium at her avail to birth various magics. She can be found in the forests of reality designing, illustrating, and writing. She was led to these creative vocations by the whispers of her beginnings in school for user experience design.
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Jéleena Rai Jéleena Rai originally from Toronto, Canada, and is currently a secondyear student at the NorwegianSchool of Photography. She explores her artistic realm through mixed media and is becoming a well-known staple in Trondheim’s cultural scene having collaborated with a number of event organisers;preferring to spend her time exploring weird places, making playlists, dancing in cave parties, takingphotos and growing plants. Jéleena works as a model for a couple international brands, and isPhotograpy Editor at The List.
Rolf Dyrnes Svendsen Media strategist at The List and Communications director at NorwAI, helping media adapt and transform with the use of new technologies.
Emma Steer Emma Steer has a PhD in molecular biology and now works as a freelance science communicator. After deciding to swap the pipette for the pen, she moved from the UK to the sunny southwest corner of Germany. Now she lives in Trondheim, doing her best to live as sustainably as possible by growing her own vegetables and knitting her own jumpers.
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CONTENTS 06
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COLUMN Systems for sustainable value creation
HIT THE STREETS
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Q&A
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Unlikely links changing everyday patterns 12
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A NETWORK OF LEADERS
ENOVA
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The wizards who dare, where others cannot 16
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NAMDAL RESSURS
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Changing the waste management industry 17
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KARI AINA EIK Returned to her roots to promote a global effort
Hear from Citizens 10
PROFILING SYSTEM INNOVATORS Gro Brundtland, Tharald Nustad, Bert-Ola Bergstrand
BENCHMARKING SDGS Measuring real change in the global village
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SYSTEMIC INNOVATION
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Creating essential change in the global village
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PROFILE Some work doesn't stop once you've retire
FRETEX ARKIVET CULTURE AND ART REPORT
SUSTAINABLE ARTIST MAJA CASE STUDY Shaping Elgeseter's green future
THE SDG CLINIC SUSTAINABLE UTLEIRA SPORTS TEAM
FOOD & DRINK 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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COLUMN
SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE VALUE CREATION
In 2020 the UN decreed Trondheim as a viable model, forming the UN Centre of Excellence. They attributed Trondheim’s investments in leadership development and the reframing of Trondheim as an advanced urban living lab, as contributing factors. These recognitions speak to a new tendency to acknowledge and invest in System Innovation.
“The 17 SDGs add up to form a triple-bottom-line considering people, planet and prosperity. As such, we will need many individual contributions to create this necessary scale of change in order to meet the goals. ”
We have dedicated this special issue of The List to exploring the conceptual framework of System Innovation for good reason. Words Kristian Mjøen, PhD, Centre for Sustainable Development, Trondheim Municipality
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Norway’s chances of delivering on its obligations towards the UN 2030-agenda – a plan to bring peace and prosperity to all supported by 170 countries around the globe and including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – is predicated on system innovations. This can be understood as a holistic restructuring of social, financial and/or technological systems. Singular solutions and services are not enough. There is a need to reframe, and at times shake up the whole system. The 17 SDGs add up to form a triple-bottom-line considering people, planet and prosperity. As such, we will need many individual contributions to create this necessary scale of change in order to meet the goals. Given the interconnectedness of these goals, failure to adopt a systemic approach could mean that we will embrace solutions that may very well add local value, however undermine the performance of the system as a whole. We are already seeing climate solutions that create social unrest. In 2019 and 2021, Trondheim was recognised as a European Capital of Innovation by the Norwegian Government and the EU Commission, respectively. 6
System Innovation is a key framework to planning and developing climate neutral cities that are also attractive to live in, offering people avenues to future prosperity (reference Net Zero Prosperity). It is technological innovation coupled with new business models such as circular economy, along with shifts in consumer behaviour, paving the way for new vistas in urban mobility. Here, thinking of cities as circular economies, reduces wastes and provides more opportunities to a greater number of people. Managing system innovation is useful and important, but complex. Difficulty tends to increase with scale and you need to anticipate shifts in power relations, divisions of labour, and financial returns that are not always welcomed by all. Mediating this process using data, catalytic technology for visualisation and simulation, all the while rethinking incentive schemes and funding mechanisms, calls for new leadership mindsets, theory and practice. In Trondheim we have a history of connecting sustainable value creation and system innovation. But, more is needed. The newly established Norwegian Sustainable Centre in Ålesund is a manifestation of emerging systems for sustainable value creation. The centre, presented in this issue of The List UN SDG Guide, covers 10% of Norway’s total geographic region and population. It innovates the way we plan, fund and implement Net Zero Prosperity and Sustainability, both in Norway and globally.
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HIT THE STREETS
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Hedda Hørran (32)
Artist with upcoming exhibition at Blunk Gallery What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing the word sustainability? It’s a difficult word to define and I find the meaning of it unclear in a way. It can mean so much, and so little. The first thing that came to my mind is Svartlamoen! I recently spent some time there, being from Oslo I don’t know that much, but my impression so far is really good. It seems like an amazing community where everybody helps their neighbors and cares about each other in a way that’s rare in modern times. What do you do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle? I’m an artist and all the art I create I make from stuff I find or get for free. I use Finn. no, shop vintage and secondhand for both my art and myself. I’m currently here for a exhibition at Blunk gallery at Svartlamoen, which is focused around sustainability. Do you have hope for the future? Short answer: yes! I believe we must have faith in the goodness of humanity and that we will unite and work together. I think something needs to happen for people to fully wake up, but I don’t know what that would be, but I believe it can happen. 8
Thor Eirik Eide (35) NTNU
Waiting for a friend
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing the word sustainability? Economy! What do you do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle? I shop a lot of discounted food that is close to being expired. I shop secondhand when I can. Do you have hope for the future? Yes, because things usually work out in the end.
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Jarl Erlien (27) & Birk (1)
Out for a walk Gloria W (34)
Tourist in the city What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing the word sustainability? To live in a responsible manner. What do you do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle? I bring my own containers instead of getting single use take out containers and I use reusable shopping bags. I also try to recycle as much as possible. Do you have hope for the future? Because of the way international relations are right now and due to the fact that parts of nature are disappearing rapidly, doesn’t make me feel super hopeful. I don’t think the world will “end” in our time, but I’m pretty sure it will happen.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing the word sustainability? I think of the environment and sturdy long term solutions. What do you do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle? I always check Finn.no before buying something, if I can get it there, I will. I aspire to mostly buy secondhand items and clothing. I also bike whenever I can, and never use the car unless I really have to. Do you have hope for the future? I’m kinda worried, so both yes and no. I hope the world will unite to find a solution, but it will take a lot of change that everybody will be affected by. I don’t think all people realize how much we have to change our ways to get to our climate goals.
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Gunn Trondsen (63)
Retired and volunteering at ‘The Future is in Our Hands’ What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing the word sustainability? Something that lasts over time. Something that creates values and opportunities. Almost everything we do is about sustainability, clothing, recycling, nature, energy and so on. What do you do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle? I try to live simple. I’m not an avid shopper. I really don’t want to add to the extreme overconsumption the planet suffers from today. I also try to educate my kids and make them think twice before buying something. Do you have hope for the future? I need to have hope. If there’s no hope, everything is, well, hopeless and sad. Giving up hope is the last thing you do. Future generations need to understand that you cannot just buy new things all the time, but rather spend time in nature, creating memories or having experiences, that’s so much better than a new dress or phone. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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UNLIKELY LINKS CHANGING EVERYDAY PATTERNS How The UN Centre for Excellency and Explora are making (solar) waves in Lebanon
Tell us a little about your work at the UN Centre of Excellence? The Centre is a great place for me to combine my research background and my interest in innovation and entrepreneurship. Combining concept development with practical solutions is exciting and important if we want to make the Sustainable Development Goals actionable. As part of this, I have been designing spaces, both physical and virtual, that lend themselves to innovation across civil, public, private and academic sectors. The results achieved at the Centre in Trondheim are shared with the UN. How are you your connection to your home country, Lebanon? Right now, I am spending my spare time supporting energy projects there. People in Lebanon have been hit hard by the country’s financial crisis, the Beirut port blast, and now COVID-19. One of the effects of the crisis has been the collapse of the energy system. Today, people have two hours of electricity per day. I am part of an international effort to replace the old energy systems in several villages, moving from polluting diesel to renewable solar
Samah, Elsaadi, Project Manager at the Centre for Sustainable Development in Trondheim, has been with the UN Centre of Excellence since 2019. Originally from Lebanon, Samah came to Norway in 2015 to complete his Master’s degree. He has since completed a PhD in Medicine and Health Sciences and uses these skills to influence sustainability development at the Trondheim Sustainability Centre. Words Samah Elsaadi
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NUNO MARQUES
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power. It is gratifying to help switch the lights on in people’s homes. What are the goals of this project in Lebanon? The project is coordinated by United Cities, a non-profit, international organisation headquartered in Vienna, Austria, with which the UN Centre of Excellence in Trondheim is partnered. Through this partnership, we want to help people in Lebanon tackle the energy crisis. Together we want to co-create new approaches to sustainability through knowledge sharing and systems innovation. For example, United Cities helps fund programmes where cities and businesses co-develop solutions. Without this type of international partnership and funding, we will not be able to realise the sustainable development goals by 2030. As well as this, we want to share innovations made in Trondheim globally. We want to help Norwegian companies, such as the Trondheim-based tech company Xplora, to connect to new markets. How are you trying to achieve this project? There are basically three factors. Firstly, we are testing new technical solutions, such as revolutionary Norwegian battery technology. Secondly, we are rethinking business models. The villages need a
financial model that is sustainable, where they no longer rely on outside interventions. And finally, we invest in social innovation and citizen engagement. Both the technical and financial solutions will only work if there is trust and good governance. How are you hoping to involve local businesses in Trondheim? It can be hard for Norwegian companies to establish themselves in the Middle East. That’s why we are creating a docking station in Lebanon, where tech partners can connect their solutions. This significantly reduces the risk for
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individual companies. Using our models and frameworks from Trondheim, an organisation like United Cities can set up partnerships with local communities and bring many companies together. This removes many of the bottle necks the businesses experience. We have brought in a wide spectrum of Norwegian solutions such as battery technology, energy as a service provider, advanced simulation solutions, as well as the Internet of Things (IOT) which helps support citizen engagement. Tell us more about your relationship with these business partners. Working with the businesses has been a journey for us all. We have selected partners that understand that they are part of a bigger picture, where different solutions and partners work together. This requires a willingness by all, including the cities, to give and take. Furthermore, everyone needs to appreciate that we have a triple bottom line: people, planet and prosperity. Financial returns are important, but they need to be balanced against people’s needs and environmental sustainability. Are there any long-term goals you would like to achieve through this project? Together with the UN, we are identifying 100 cities across North Africa and the Middle East that can adopt models similar to the one being tested in Lebanon. Solving the energy crisis will be a first important step towards future prosperity in these local communities. Once they have a surplus of clean energy, they can use this to create new business and jobs for people. The UN has identified 10,000 cities globally that need to undergo this type of transition before 2030. The work we do in Trondheim is making this more likely to happen, but there is still a lot to do and the clock is ticking. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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the Leadership Development Programme. The Programme aims to create a data-driven, networked approach to leadership, involving multiple stakeholders that represent the public and private sectors, academia and technology partners, to name but a few. This style of leadership contrasts a more hierarchical ‘command-and-control’ approach often practised by people traditionally thought of as leaders. Mjøen argues that ultimately who practises leadership is not self-evident. “You are leading as soon as you’re engaging other stakeholders in a shared objective,” he states. This model speaks to a different type of decision making process. By engaging people who represent different societal interests to have a shared understanding of a problem, large-scale solutions can be more effectively implemented.
A NETWORK OF LEADERS
A new leadership development programme to guide the implementation of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals Words Emma Steer
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In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched by a UN summit, aiming to end poverty in all its forms. Endorsed by 193 countries, the 2030 Agenda is a comprehensive blueprint for reducing inequality and protecting the planet. It incorporates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to guide sustained and radical change in a way that ensures no one is left out. Yet it is difficult to argue that the approach is simple; trying to consider every conceivable stakeholder, target, and solution, anywhere in the world is difficult, if not impossible. So with goals this ambitious, how can society systematically work towards achieving actual results? For Kristian Mjøen, the Head of the Centre for Sustainable Development in Trondheim, the answer lies in leadership. “We have high political ambitions, for example on climate action (SDG 13), but we’re not seeing the results to back this up. Setting a goal but then moving away from it is a very bizarre definition of leadership success.” Indeed, despite the pandemic-related economic slowdown in 2020, greenhouse gas concentrations reached new highs and the global average temperature was 1.2 oC above the pre-industrial baseline. A far cry away from the 2030 Agenda’s climate action goals. Instead, a different approach to leadership is needed. This is being established by Mjøen and his team in the form of 12
Three key steps Within urban development settings, the Leadership Development Programme is based around understanding and acting on three key points. Firstly, what is sustainable development? Having an in-depth understanding of the subject matter is key, which is why the Leadership Development Programme focuses on educating future leaders on what sustainable development is, how it is measured in the context of the 17 UN SDGs, and how cities and municipalities are performing. This data-driven approach is vital to ensure results in addition to good intentions. With a more profound understanding of a city or municipality’s potential and opportunities, the Programme delves into how these learnings can be incorporated into the decisions around political funding and prioritisation of resources. It is here where data and technology can be used to visualise and simulate alternative scenarios, such as for sustainable energy use, mobility, or improved human health. The final vital point is the opportunity to create value within and for society. Mjøen is keen to stress that “conflict between sustainable development and sustainable value creation is not an option. We are not suggesting that people revert to the 17th century. ” Instead, leaders across different sectors are trained to work together as unions or public-private-partnerships to leverage investments and create sustainable solutions that benefit all sectors of society.
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6AM ACCELERATOR, DIGS / KRISTOFFER WITTRUP PICTURED: LEADERS MINGLING AT ECOSYSTEM EVENT
Made in Norway With the roll out of the Leadership Development Programme across many of the 356 Norwegian municipalities, Norway has been a living lab. For some Norwegian municipalities, some steps within the Leadership Development Programme are already clear. For others that are less familiar with the UN SDGs, more work was required. Regardless of a city’s starting point, it was important to work with leaders embedded in their
“You are leading as soon as you’re engaging other stakeholders in a shared objective”
municipalities. While the broad principles of the programme can be applied, implementation – particularly around value creation – has to be tailored to the city or municipality and driven by locally determined data. This tailoring is particularly important as the programme is expanding to involve other countries. “We are releasing the first design principles from the national programmes in partnership with the UN at the beginning of June,”says Mjøen. “A UN delegation is visiting and the Programme can be taken back to UN countries by way of case studies, new international guidelines and training programmes”. Last year Mjøen and his team already made several trips to Lebanon to work together with municipalities to implement the programme. Cities in eastern Asia, 13
eastern Europe and the Middle East are also getting involved. The response so far has been positive, but Mjøen is wary of stepping on toes. “You cannot just deploy solutions, even if you have the means to do so because they will not be productive,” he says. “You need global communities, and ability to connect to the political process.” The Leadership Development Programme is also being made available as an open source design template. The Programme enables municipalities and cities anywhere in the world to train future leaders to realise sustainable development in a way that is relevant to their immediate context and available resources. In this way, the Programme is creating empowered networks of leaders at the local level, to ensure sustainable development can be achieved globally. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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THE WIZARDS WHO DARE, WHERE OTHERS CANNOT New technology can make a significant contribution to The Great Change: here we are talking about the climate. But what technologies can we invest in? And who should be the obstetrician for enabling technologies where the risk can be sky high, the knowledge sparse, and the knowledge little-known? “We work in a full-scale lab. We will contribute to changes that otherwise would not have happened,” says business developer Karen Eid Sæter about the extremely exciting tasks of the state climate agency Enova. Her boss Nils Kristian Nakstad supports her: “Nobody knows what technologies will be important to apply and what kind of society we will have in 30 years. But we know we will need new technology and competitive companies to achieve the climate goals. We must help point out directions and reduce the uncertainty that new technology inevitably entails,” he says. We are located in the new Powerhouse Brattørkaia in Trondheim harbour, the 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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world’s northernmost energy-positive building. An entire floor houses 80 employees who have been assigned large tasks. Enova is the leading state accelerator for Norway to reach the climate goals by 2050. Enova will be a driving force for new technology and innovation. The client and owner is the Ministry of Climate and the Environment. It requires systematic work. Potential “Our country is fortunately equipped to deliver on many of the 17 sustainability goals that the UN asks us to contribute to. The potential in Norway is great, both as a role model, but also to find, test, and make new technology competitive and indirectly contribute to foreign players also benefiting in what is a global challenge,” says Nils Kristian Nakstad. Enova's model is simple, but alas, also demanding. Enova identifies promising opportunities where Norway is well positioned to make a major contribution. Fullscale testing, and – when the solutions
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give results – where they can be scaled and become competitive. Yes, then Enova delivers the goods to the business community to speed us up and take us all further. “If we find gold, we pull out and let others take advantage of the findings!” says Karen Eid Sæter. The coast, ships, and batteries are good examples. When the ferry Ampere was put into battery-powered traffic in 2016, it was a sensation. Today, just six years later, it's big business. Today, there are about 330 all-electric or battery-hybrid vessels globally. 200 more are in the order books. Ferry connections are announced and established with low- and zero-emission solutions. Fully electric, rechargeable, and battery-hybrid solutions are also spreading to businesses like aquaculture, fishing, oil service, and cruises. Prepared? How well are the players in the ecosystem prepared to contribute? “Norway is well suited for the tasks. We are a democracy, the Norwegian model with interactions between employees, businesses, and the public sector is an obvious strength. And besides, flat structures, small differences, and short distances between employees and management, provide freedom, openness and independence. Karen can talk directly to me about her ideas, regardless of age and position, with no other respect than the one she – hopefully – has for my experience and knowledge. She can talk freely,” Nils Kristian chuckles. Karen nods and adds that the state instrument system includes several tools that contribute in their own way, such as the Research Council to fund research as well as Innovation Norway and their support schemes such as SIVA (The Industrial Development Corporation of Norway) and infrastructure. And it helps a full-scale lab like Enova that Norway has capital. On an annual basis, Enova manages over NOK 4.5 billion. Collaborate Are the actors in the ecosystem able to cooperate? “Yes, the ability to share within a company, and between companies, is important. It requires maturity.” In Enova's context, sharing also means sharing on a large scale. For example, Enova supports Elkem's energy recovery plant with NOK 350 million. The plant
Two basic strategies for sustainable market change TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
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opened in November 2021. The American and Chinese owners will probably take the technology to other parts of the world if it succeeds. At Enova, this is considered a gain in relation to The Great Change. It's not about the National Championship or the WC. It's about showing the way for The Greater Good. Many people talk about the climate goals in 2030, you talk about 2050. How is this connected? “We must work both in the short and long term. A special example is our support for the Norwegian aluminium industry. In the short term, this support will contribute to increased emissions nationally. But if we succeed, future aluminium production in relation to future car production will reduce emissions for this entire value chain. This is a 2050 perspective for us,” says Nakstad. Impact Hydrogen is a possible significant energy carrier and input factor in the low-emission society showing a possible future impact. Development of markets and value chains for hydrogen use and production are necessary steps on the way to realising zero emissions. This is especially true in the transport and industrial sectors, and may be one of several solutions for the future energy system. At the end of last year, Enova pledged 15
support of just over NOK 1 billion to three large projects that take us one step closer to the low-emission industry of the future. Common to all these three is that hydrogen is the central climate solution in the projects. Walk the talk We sit in the brand-new powerhouse. Powerhouse Brattørkaia aims to set a new standard for the construction of the buildings of tomorrow: one that produces more energy than it consumes over its lifespan, including construction and demolition. This also includes the embodied energy in the materials used to construct the building. Every inch is wallpapered with future, sustainability, and climate change. How does Enova’s visions and values influence the organisation itself? What do you do in your daily life as you teach others? “Our work and facilities shall reflect our goals. But this is not about moralism. Our trade is competence. I would never tell Karen to spend her holiday bicycling in Norway, which by the way is a wonderful thing to do. But it is equally important that she travels to foreign countries, to learn and be inspired,” says Nils Kristian. “But working here makes you think twice. I am about to buy my next car – t will be an electric one. There is your answer,” replies Karen. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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NAMDAL RESSURS, CHANGING THE WASTE MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY
Namdal Ressurs, which translates to ‘Namdal Resource’ is an innovative Norwegian company delivering all equipment necessary in the waste management industry. Namdal Ressurs was early with naming waste and garbage as ‘resources’, because that is what a lot of waste is -- if you handle it properly and know how to utilise it. Namdal Ressurs delivers equipment and technology for sorting and handling waste to municipalities around Norway, as well as public and private companies. It can be containers, bins, bag-products, recycling and sorting equipment and buried waste-solutions. When you think of a garbage bin, you might think of one of those green bins you put your used gum in, but that is not all it is. Namdal Ressurs has in the past years invested heavily in digitalisation and innovation and a lot of their products have built-in smart solutions, where the waste is compressed in the bins through solar-panel technology. Some have built in chips that make sure only those who are supposed to access the bin, can access it. Namdal Ressurs has even developed their own sensors that gives them full control over the amount of waste in containers, making the containers be able to signal when they are full and should be emptied. The sensors are also programmed to calculate when it is most optimal to empty the container, even if it is not full. If there is a half-full container, they can get a 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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garbage truck doing a route in the area to empty it as well, instead of setting up a new pick-up for when the container gets full. With this they save time, resources and the environment. This mindset is both innovative and sustainable. As a part of their heavy investment in digitalisation and innovation in the waste management industry, Namdal Ressurs acquired the Trondheim based company Fieldata in 2021. Fieldata is the foremost company in the country regarding software for the waste management industry.
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Namdal Ressurs is not only innovative in terms of the digitalisation of the waste industry, they also introduced the flat-packaging system for containers. This has saved a lot of CO2 emission and resources, through the optimisation of the transport process. In addition, they give the task of setting up the flat-packed containers to local growth companies, which are companies that hire ex-inmates and others who have a hard time finding work elsewhere, or depend on reintegration into society.
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MEASURING REAL CHANGE IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels • Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development Although the UN globally consolidates all VLR activities into four topline reporting streams: Targets, Events, Publications, and Actions, the collection and analysis of source data is based on the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) standard, which is an international platform for information exchange and partnership building to guide cities and communities in achieving the SDGs. In late 2020, TK participated in an SDG readiness evaluation under U4SSC using the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) shown in Figure 1. The report’s recommendations, used as a starting point for TK’s VLR activity, were to: • focus on KPIs falling within the benchmarks of 0 – 33 % and 33 – 66 % of targets to determine those critical to TK’s sustainable development plans • review KPIs for which no data were reported, and determine plans for future data collection and reporting • continue ongoing data collection to determine trends in performance against benchmarks over time • stay engaged within the U4SSC process and continue to provide feedback on KPIs and benchmarks Analysis of SDG activity is key to Sustainable Value Creation (SVC), the process of tracking and monitoring sustainability value added to local communities. SVC is measured across at least dimensions of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental. Application of SVC to sustainable development policy is being advanced and tested with TK’s VLR and applied internationally to support global transition towards Net-Zero Prosperity.
Targets, Events, Publications and Actions – benchmarking success for the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Norway, blessed with abundant natural and social resources, is uniquely equipped to contribute to the shift to sustainable development as envisioned in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, achieving the target 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires both global and local action. Expanding commitment to the SDGs by the global community establishes a shared direction for creating inclusive and prosperous societies. And it confirms an overwhelming need to deliver better, more sustainable outcomes for global development. To further these aims, benchmarking criteria have been established to track SDG activities and progress at the local level. By applying standardized metrics to analyse and report on SDG work completed by Voluntary Local Review (VLR) organisations, sustainable development is shown to be a valuable opportunity without added cost. In Acknowledging the importance of municipalities in creating positive sustainable change, Trondheim Kommune (TK) established its VLR to focus on 4 specific SDGs, in alignment with TK’s resources and sustainable development objectives: • SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries • SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable • SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice 17
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SYSTEMIC INNOVATION – Creating Essential Change in the Global Village Words Gregory Thomlison Illustration Skurktur
The impact of Systems Innovation on the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Modern culture is consistently changing, even when unintended. Fashion changes Tik Tok quick, and political views, well, they now can swing around at viral speeds. Not so, though, for the organisations that underpin modern societies, including democratic ones. Systemic change, when it happens, moves at glacial speed. So, can we improve how we collectively achieve societal change? Unexpectedly, the twin crises of global warming and Covid are catalysing a much-needed new global purpose – the creation of better systems for a better future. According to Dr Agata Krause, urban planning consultant to Trondheim Kommune, “communities need to collect data about their sustainability performance to analyse their future, not only their past.” Having previously been an advisor to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, she is helping cities to report on their SDG progress and to establish performance benchmarks for them to promote global sustainable development as an opportunity, not a cost. The United Nations argued for a sustainable future with Agenda 21 at Earth Summit in 1992. That Agenda was brought forward at the UN Conference 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
on Sustainable Development in 2012 with “The Future We Want” declaration, which became the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that was adopted by over 200 countries in 2015. Fortunately, putting the 2030 Agenda to work did not take another 23 years. Influenced by a Systems Innovation (SI) approach, the UN is actively delivering better outcomes for a better future through its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative. Today, SDGs are the development model for 169 public, NGO, and private organizations located around globe. The UN’s Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) is actively tracking and reporting on more than 3000 Voluntary Local Review (VLR) committees that have collectively administered over 18,000 SDG driven actions, reported on in more than 1300 publications worldwide. Systems that organize processes are created to both achieve a purpose and make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. An example is the movement of goods. Containers, cranes, and ships/ trains/trucks individually have less collective value than “Containerization” even though all have the same purpose. Modern consensus supports that most systems in use today could benefit from a new sense of purpose, one that’s compatible with global sustainability needs. The SI approach to such need is that no single element of a system stands on its own, everything is related. Instead of just looking at changing the purpose, SI pursues a 18
“The case must show how the work to achieve the sustainability goals integrates everyone at all municipal levels, included in political, adopted by all stakeholders to provide concrete results for the city and its inhabitants.” Trondheim council
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better outcome by re-imagining a system’s relationships first. Interaction of four key elements of all systems: purpose and power, relationships, and resource flows, shows that changing an outcome is hard because power, relationships, and resource flows are locked into a well-established, recurring pattern. SI promotes that better system outcomes are achieved by dismantling old patterns and creating new patterns based on re-imagined new relationships. Creating a new pattern can result in disruption to other non-related systems, as happened when Ikea converted consumers from product buyers to furniture-building participants and producers.
Technology is also causing disruption. The M-Pesa payment system squeezed Kenya’s banks out of local money transfer services by offering cheaper, more convenient peer-to-peer transfers through a network of local stores and kiosks. And Uber’s ride-sharing model is still disrupting taxi services and food home-delivery. Changing social philosophies and norms have opened the door to SI shifts in many heritage systems, healthcare for one. The House of Generations project in Aarhus, Denmark abandoned its senior care system in favour of creating an imaginative, new pattern for care. In their own words, “the House brings together elderly homes, nursing homes, family homes, youth housing and day care institutions in a vision to create a house and a daily framework for celebrating intergenerational cohabitation and good relationships between people.” And of course, fast changing environmental priorities and values are increasingly demanding better systemic outcomes to address the Green Transition (that period of time between now, when our way of life is unsustainable in the long term, and the time when our activity will not endanger the health of the planet). New ecologically sustainable systems require new relationship patterns; ones that are circular and regenerative not linear and wasteful. In October 2021 Trondheim council issued a directive to the Municipal Director that said “The case must show how the work to achieve the sustainability goals integrates everyone at all municipal levels, included in political, adopted by all stakeholders to provide concrete results for the city and its inhabitants.” And says Dr Krause “It must answer the question of how sustainability value added is created and how that value manifests itself, presenting SDGs as an opportunity.” Creating a new sense of purpose out of new relationship patterns is just as hard and just as critical to better outcomes. The most powerful driver in a system is the purpose it serves, so creating a new system means creating a new sense of purpose. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) faces stiff resistance attempting to shift Education from academic learning, which hasn’t changed in 600 years, to focusing on equipping resilient learners to become collaborative problem solvers SI identifies three steps to new purpose: 1) determine 19
New ecologically sustainable systems require new relationship patterns; ones that are circular and regenerative not linear and wasteful.
whether and why a system is open to change, 2) balance directive and emergent change using a top-down and bottom-up process, and 3) find the path to a predictable future. New purpose is achieved by establishing a process of collective learning, imagination, and experimentation that engages people both inside and outside the system, and from all levels. Without a clear and focused sense of purpose, a system risks becoming aimless and shallow, reactive and drifting, much like humans. Purpose combines identity with intent. It defines who we are and who we are becoming as participants. Changing a system’s purpose puts into question our sense of identity and the commitment to act on out intent. SI models new shared purpose by inviting all members to undertake cycles of learning and deliberation by engaging them in activities that explore, excavate, and imagine. Members are encouraged to share perspectives and agree on a new sense of direction through a process of deliberation and learning. Excavation explores the roots of what was and lays the foundation of what’s to be. And investing in imagination frees members from the mental models that made up the old system and its outdated purpose. SI’s purpose, then, is the intentional emergence of systems driven by new purpose and a mass of decentralized, self-organizing social innovation, together delivering the better outcomes we desperately need - today, not next year. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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PROFILING SYSTEM INNOVATORS
GRO BRUNDTLAND Pioneer of Sustainable Action
Look no further than her work as Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, where her influence and direction caused the organization to become known as the Brundtland Commission while its seminal sustainability report is still called The Brundtland Report. “Since the answers to fundamental and serious concerns are not at hand, there is no alternative but to keep on trying to find them.” she says in the report, adding that “After a decade and a half of a standstill or even deterioration in global co-operation, I believe the time has come for higher expectations, for common goals pursued together, for an increased political will to address our common future.” She developed the broad political concept of sustainable development, through extensive public hearings, that were distinguished by their inclusiveness. And these sensibilities are equally relevant today as when first reported to the UN three decades ago. Conclusions presented in “Our Common Future” report laid the foundation for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals ambitions and provided the framework for present sustainable development by Trondheim Kommune and other cities around the world. As Ms. Brundtland insightfully counselled, “The environment does not exist as a sphere separate from human actions, ambitions, and needs, and attempts to defend it in isolation from human concerns have given the very word environment a connotation of naivety in some political circles. But the environment is where we all live; and development is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode.” Gro Brundtland’s achievement in uniting the two, is now widely known as sustainable development, and has today become the strategy for innovative, purpose-driven development policies. Her vision, that a new global purpose was needed to deliver better global outcomes, is view that is finally trending beyond Norway.
Gro Harlem Brundtland was the first female Prime Minister of Norway, the first female Director-General of the World Health Organization, and the first female UN Special Envoy on Climate Change Like the popular futuristic TV series, but with both feet firmly planted on earth, Gro Brundtland has dared to go where no woman has gone before. Yet, after being the first female Norwegian Prime Minister, Director-General of the WHO, and UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, and with more than 40 years of public service behind her, she’s still advocating change. Ms Brundtland is keeping her finger on the pulse of global politics as Deputy Chair of The Elders Group (founded by Nelson Mandela) and as a member of the Council of Women World Leaders. Undoubtedly, she’s been a woman ahead of her time. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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GRO BRUNDTLAND BY LUIZ MUNHOZ
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PROFILING SYSTEM INNOVATORS
THARALD NUSTAD Norwegian Virtual Idealist, POV
incubates and invests in social and environmental impact tech startups, as well as impact funds. All these ventures have a common purpose: to invest in a better future through technology. Tharald Nustad believes that capital and business can solve the world’s grand challenges. His goal is to make impact investing mainstream, to help it become the norm instead of the exception. In short, to steward exponential technologies to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). EXP Group aims to encourage, inspire and motivate active thinking in the search for new ideas, new combinations, new models, new formats, new solutions that create value for people and planet. To catalyze innovative thinking that drives the world forward, using technology to move everyone everywhere from scarcity to abundance, while ensuring that human interests, not systems, are the core drivers. Katapult understands that technology does not inherently deliver good outcomes. It also has some history of causing great harm. In managing its Accelerators and Fund investment vehicles, Future Fest, and Foundation, Katapult actions are consistent with the belief that maximizing good outcomes from transformative technologies requires responsible stewardship and clear intentionality. Capital and business can indeed solve grand challenges, but not in isolation. Meaningful sustainable development delivering impactful outcomes requires global endorsement and Nustad gets the importance of SDG engagement on an international scale. He’s active outside Norway’s borders in building the impact investing ecosystem, both as an active member of Toniic, a global community of asset owners seeking deeper positive net impact a global impact investor network, and as co-chair of the Nexus impact investing group. Not surprisingly, he also gets that advancing impact investing requires learning. Working with Ashoka.org, he’s helping to identify and support aspiring social entrepreneurs. And his Nordic Impact venture actively participates in the future of education. Tharald Nustad: entrepreneur, investor, mentor, idealist? Done deal.
Tharald Nustad lives by a code when it comes to investing in transformative tech and sustainable impact development For Tharald Nustad, sustainable development is more than just good social, economic, and environmental policy, it’s impact code. He believes technology can build a thriving and positive future for humanity. And he puts his money where is heart is. As a Norwegian serial entrepreneur and investor in the tech sector, Mr. Nustad is a partner in EXP Group, a private investment company that invests in, innovates and builds companies solving societal and environmental problems using exponential tech and ethical practices. He’s also co-founder at Katapult, an investment company focussing on highly scalable, impact tech startups. Nordic Impact, his personal investment fund, 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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PROFILING SYSTEM INNOVATORS
BERT-OLA BERGSTRAND Social Impact Facilitator
the academic community wanted him to be a “fly on the wall”, he wanted to create waves. Merging his academic understanding of social capital from his scholarly life with his lived experiences in his early life of growing up in a small community, he created new understandings. He found his passion in connecting with people and contributing to them in some way and acquired personal social innovation philosophies and ways of relating to the world. Bert-Ola’s Philosophies 1. Be grounded in ‘where you start’ - Start at the local level. Cultivate system innovation in your own communities. 2. 1 + 1 is greater than 2 - The whole is larger than the sum of its parts. Bringing together different stakeholders with different knowledge backgrounds will create positive change. 3. Enjoy the journey - There will always be resistance. There will always be hard days. Being passionate about what you’re doing is the key to pushing through. 4. Focus on the Four Ps - People. Passion. Purpose. Place. 5. Find the boundaries - A university professor once told him to “always look for the boundaries in communities” and it stuck with him. Ask yourself: “Who’s not in the room?” We have to garner a cross-disciplinary view of the world and its social systems. To understand social capital and system innovation, we need to understand the people, the community and the norms. For this reason, social entrepreneurs often have their hands in a lot of projects at once. In this respect, Bert-Ola does not differ from his peers. Currently, he is getting his ‘social innovation’ hands dirty with 3 different projects: Katapult Accelerator, Remote Lab, and working with a medium-sized energy company. Moving in different sectors and working with different stakeholders and industries allows Bert-Ola to see the connection between these individual nodes and see the system as more of a whole. This gives him a greater ability to see the unseen, but isn’t a superpower. In the realms of social entrepreneurship and innovation, it’s hard to measure your impact. Even so, Bert-Ola had a direct part in introducing impact investing to the Nordics. In 2010, he helped create SOCAP in Europe, a thought-leadership platform that has brough together more than 30,000 minds. In 2015, he helped create what he called a “micro-SoCap” in Norway called Katapult (a conference he was actually in the middle of attending while we spoke to him). Social innovators will say that it’s important to build stronger social capital. But is “strong” the quality we should be building towards? Bert-Ola reminds us that sometimes social structures can actually be “too strong” and what they need is to be loosened up instead of strengthened. “We need to always create space for new inspiration and new people”. So, how do we move forward with this? How do we innovate on social innovation? Bert-Ola tells us that the social movement alone is not enough. We need to shift our focus to societal movements. Solving problems and creating social entrepreneurs has been important, but without innovating upon the rules of society and the power dynamics and conflicts that plague us, we will not see the change we wish to see. Mixing the dimensions of both social and societal change is where we can create the biggest impacts. When we join the governments and the grassroots as one in a cooperative system, rather than viewing them square pegs and round holes.
Bert-Ola is a social entrepreneur that grew up in the heart of Sweden in a small village of a few hundred people.
BERT-OLA BERGSTRAND BY LARS LING
From an early age he was inspired through his family and those who were close to him, to start thinking globally. In 2006, he participated in Dynamic Growth Capital. This was a project jump-started in Sweden that set Bert-Ola on a 15+ year exploration of what social capital and entrepreneurship means, both academically and to him personally. He used these ideas to create new systems for innovation, focussing on lasting results. Having completing his PhD in finance and accounting, this became a lifelong journey of the world through an academic touch. He quickly saw the difficulty in creating a ‘felt impact’ in the field while conducting research. Where 23
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RETURNED TO HER ROOTS TO PROMOTE A GLOBAL EFFORT Words Rolf Dyrnes Svendsen Photography Samah Elsaadi
Already as a 12-year-old growing up in Ålesund, Kari Aina Eik had an intense desire to work for the UN. She wanted to serve a good cause. So, she counted down the 2,045 days until school would end and she could find a way to the goal of her dreams. She reached that goal and has worked for 25 years for the international organisation based in Vienna. Now she is returning to her roots in Ålesund as head of the UN’s programme for smart and sustainable cities (U4SSC). “Sustainability will be our new world language. We need such a language, because it’s about our future,” says Kari Aina Eik. In her hometown, she challenged the municipality to build a future lab and become a model city for other cities, both nationally and internationally. “Most people live in cities. How can cities be run to honour sustainability? We believe that cities need a tool to map their status and condition. Our programme U4SSC contains 92 sustainability indicators that are tangible and measurable. It provides answers to a city’s maturity in relation to the sustainability goals,” says Kari Aina Eik.
encouraging. Private companies and institutions have also supported the idea to build a national centre for sustainability. This is according to my own DNA and what I have firmly learnt after working on all continents for the UN. We simply have to cooperate. That is the only way forward. Everybody must contribute – from school children to ministers,” says Kari Aina Eik. Trondheim established an office to promote the UN’s sustainability goals a few years ago. Are you hoping to take the inside lane and lead? “Again, cooperation is essential. Møre and Trøndelag will work hand in hand.
Support and cooperation The key performance indicator (KPI) programme is open and accessible to everyone. Hundreds of cities have already used the dataset to find out where they stand, even compared to others. “The support from Møre and Romsdal county and our three cities has been very 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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One of the key players is NTNU. The NTNU Ålesund campus is one of our main owners and is well connected to Trondheim,” says Kari Aina Eik. United Future Lab Norway is part of the UN’s smart city programme United for Smart Sustainable Cities implementation programme. The Future Lab has partnerships with actors from private businesses, academia, and public sector. One of them is Augment City, originally build as a training centre for offshore personnel. 360-degree screens display a complete environment. The centre has succeeded in building digital twins of cities, visualising a city’s perimeter. Seeing is believing. Now there are around 1,000 cities from all over the world that are part of the U4SSC network. In the last three years, 100 cities around the world have been evaluated by the U4SSC measuring tool. Ålesund municipality was the first urban region to be included in the UN network. The goal is to find smart and sustainable solutions together. When several cities have been measured using the same key figures, it is easier to work together. The goal is to ensure smart and sustainable value creation within the three areas of sustainability that the UN’s sustainability goals cover: climate and environment, quality of life for the inhabitants, and economy. The findings made through the analysis are channelled back to U4SSC and are used there to update the KPIs that apply to the whole world and set the framework for a smart and sustainable societal change.
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SOME WORK DOESN’T STOP ONCE YOU’VE RETIRED ‘Sustainability Berit,’ former Head of The Trondheim Public Library and a long-time politician now coordinates citizendriven dialogue and pop-ups in Trondheim’s colourful neighbourhoods and city-campus.
Berit Skillingsaas Nygård continues to be one of Trondheim’s highly politically active citizens, though she wouldn’t necessarily claim that accolade. Nygård currently collaborates with the UN Centre for Excellence in Trondheim as a consultant who fosters dialogue around sustainability, as well as coordinates local startups looking to test out new circular economy ideas. Nygård is involved in numerous social and civic projects at the municipal level, having previously worked as a teacher for over twenty years and employed as school principal for nearly as long. It is here that she developed her passion for citizen-driven learning and discourse. Nygård has always had the drive to spread as much knowledge as possible, which motivated her to expand services at the Public Library beyond offering books to include interactive literary events and hands-on workshops and maker activities. This enhanced social mobility, inclusion, and diversity in the city. She officially retired in 2020 but continues to work in her favourite arena of disseminating knowledge through the Trondheim Centre for Sustainable Development. Pop-ups are short lived, experimental and often free events held in unique people-centred venues, ranging from temporary open public spaces to unused buildings or commercial retail spaces. Lately, Nygård has been busy organising a pop-up to be held this summer at
Abels gate in the Elgeseter city-campus district, as part of the Living City Streets project. This pop-up teams up with IKEA who will place a container of lightly blemished, but very usable furniture for sale for the neighbourhoods’ residents and students. Activities could range from info sharing, to resale, to refurbishing. “So much information comes to us all the time, which is why it is important that we create these temporary spaces to engage people where they are living their everyday lives. This is why we chose the Elgeseter neighbourhood as a pilot, where we will try to be accessible for people where they live and work.” Nygård is also currently working on a YouTube series in collaboration with the Trondheim Public Library called
Sustainable Berit
Words Gwen Elliott Photography Trondheim 2030 Magazine, Trondheim Municipality
Sustainability in Trondheim. These are published monthly and showcase businesses and public organisations that use the SDGs as their own strategic goals. She hosts community actors such as politicians, business owners, stakeholders, and various government workers. As a recent retiree, Nygård insists though people may have had a more defined role in society prior to retiring, they can and should contribute in society in other ways to share their accumulated experience. In her role as Head Librarian, Nygård organised a different type of popup: a language café for immigrants wishing to advance their Norwegian language skills and meet locals. Most of the Norwegian participants were retired volunteers. In response to how regular citizens, from children to grand-parents, could themselves realise the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Nygård shares that: “People ought to find the area that they can participate in. These SDGs are connected, so it could be that your contribution is helping older folks across the street, or even buying secondhand clothing. The most important thing is to start with your own life and see what you can do. Not everyone can buy a Tesla, but everyone can do a little.”
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ADVERTORIAL
FRETEX ARKIVET
Welcome to Fretex Arkivet! The newly renovated Fretex Møllenberg has now been transformed into Fretex Arkivet. This appealing concept developed by Fretex is based on the idea that a second-hand store can resemble a typical clothing store, and more. Not everyone has the time or desire to go on a thrifting treasure-hunt, but you may still want to buy second-hand. If this is the case for you, Fretex Arkivet is where you want to be. Fretex Arkivet has higher standards when it comes to the quality of brands, and type of materials used in the items they sell. This makes it even more sustainable, as the clothing or items you purchase will last you longer. Here you will find quality pieces from quality brands, ranging throughout the decades. At Fretex Arkivet you can also find small interior pieces in similar styles. This initiative hopes to inspire more people to buy second-hand through increasing awareness, focussing on brands, placement of in-store items, and offering sought-after designs. Using research and market insight, Fretex believes that this new initiative can bring new customer segments into the store, inspiring shoppers to consider circular economy. This in turn contributes to reduced CO2-emissions, less water consumption from clothing production, while also increasing Fretex’s customer-base. Fretex is a part of the Norwegian Salvation Army. Ten percent of all used-sales are donated directly to social endeavours like: vacations for families that could otherwise not afford it, distribution of food and clothing to those in need, and providing meeting places where people can be seen, accepted and foster a strengthened self-belief and hope for the future.
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Hours Location Instagram Web Phone
Monday - Saturday 11.00 - 18.00 Rosenborg gate 9-11, 7043 Trondheim fretex_arkivet_mollenberg www.fretex.no 23 68 11 70
Factoids • To produce one single t-shirt you need an estimated 1400 liters of water, or about 10 filled up bathtubs. • • Producing the textiles you buy each year consumes more water than an average three-person household’s water usage. This includes cooking, cleaning, bathing and flushing the toilet. • The total emissions created by producing fabrics consumed by average Scandinavian person equals the C02 emissions of a 2,000 km long drive in a family car. After 20 years, this equates to a trip across the whole of earth! • The fabric consumption of a single person leaves a bigger carbon footprint than the electricity consumption from the total sum of all appliances in any given household. (Source: Nordisk Ministerråd) Quick facts on Fretex work with sustainability In 2021 over 57,546 tonnes of CO2 was saved by reusing products and textiles (Fretex.no) In 2021 Fretex raised 22,839,995 NOK for The Salvation Army’s social work and initiatives (Fretex.no) 26
Stop by the store periodically -- every day new items are placed on display for sale!
Donate fabrics & items to Fretex! Remember! It is not only clothing you can donate to Fretex, you can also donate old bed-sheets, curtains, tablecloths, other forms of textile, in addition to small furniture and interior items. If you live far away from a Fretex collection container, you can deliver fabrics in Fretex bags, available for pick-up at post offices and Fretex stores. The cost of shipping is only 50 NOK. You can also donate items, furntire and clothing to Fretex Nardo, Trondheim’s main facility for receiving donations.
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ADVERTORIAL
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DAG ASLE LANGØ
ART IMPLEMENTS SUSTAINABILITY IN DAILY WORK AND PERFORMANCE Words Courtney Killion
WIL LEE-WRIGHT
SIGNE FUGLESTEG LUKSENGARD
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Arts and culture are directly linked to sustainability. They flourish with each other, hand in hand.
WIL LEE-WRIGHT
The employees at MIST, Museene I Trøndelag, run a workshop where they studied all 17 sustainable development goals and found ways that all of them can be relevant for the museums. From there, museums are encouraged to pick a few goals that feel particularly relevant to them. At the Bærekraftssenter were interested in seeing how different places who work with culture approached sustainability. Because of this, we have created a report on sustainability within the art and culture sector in 2021-2022. The participants ranged from Museums in Southern Trøndelag (MIST) to DansiT and to The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS). There were 18 parties invited to participate. All of them were asked the same four questions, “Tell us about your sustainability work, how did you start working with sustainability, how has it developed with time, and do you have any tips for others who want to work with sustainability?”. The 18 parties provided variety in their answers and enlightened us to how sustainability can work within arts and culture. In some areas, we were even surprised by how dedicated to sustainability they are! Says who? Karen Espelund, head of MIST, says her organization developed a plan that requires all of their museums to put a few sustainable development goals at their forefront of development. 29
While this creates some difficult choices, it provides the greener changes that the world needs. The museums are allowed to take ownership over the direction of sustainability that drives them, and this creates the best result, says Karen Espelund. Others, like Arnhild Staal Pettersen, leader of Dansit, also demonstrated how closely they keep social sustainability in mind when they plan. In addition to their usual dance competitions and festivals, they also host “Danseteateret” for elderly dancers and “Danselaboratoriet” for dancers who have different functional variations. They put a huge focus on making dance something that includes the most people and allows people to encourage the beauty that is moving one’s body. When speaking to Line Anni Solbakken, specialized advice giver from KS, she spoke on how she works with sustainability by lowering her own carbon emissions and working with diversity and inclusion in all areas of life. She told us how much emphasis she puts on having a detailed work plan which allows for careful reflection afterwards to improve. The plans need to have a mix of concrete ideas and ambitions to allow sustainability and culture to shine. This is a great tip for those who aren’t sure where to begin with their own sustainability journey within their businesses. Overall, in all of the interviews it was clear that sustainability is a driving force of change for them. They use both social sustainability and more to create change and lead their decisions and communities. If you’d like to read this culture report, it is available online on the Bærekraftsenter’s web page for Trondheim Kommune. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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SUSTAINABLE ARTIST MAJA SDGS: Nr. 3 Quality education, she educates people on how to create their own clothing out of for example a blanket. She used to have a “vekstbedrift” in Rissa and have held workshops and wants to educate more people on different art forms and the slow sustainable way of life she leads. Nr. 12. Responsible consumption and production which when reading the article explains the reason pretty well I hope. Words Elisa Gull Askim Photography Emma Thomlison
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Responsible cycle of production with artist Maja Stabel Sustainable designer and artist Maja Stabels’ countryside farm and studio is only a quick drive from the city, where she resides with her family. After wanting to slow down the speed of life she moved there in 2017, originally being from Oslo. Stabel started the zero waste wool blanket coat-trend, and started doing zero waste and sewing workshops at places like Studentersamfundet. - I’ve always been very focused on sustainability. I would only use recycled materials for my clothing brand. I felt like I almost could save the world with my blanket coats. After making the same clothing item out of an old blanket or old tablecloth 30
for a long time, I grew tired of repeating and wanted to create more unique, one off a kind art pieces. Since starting her own clothing brand in 2013, her direction has taken a different turn. Her current focus is directed towards art and interior and less garments. - I could always mass produce low quality t-shirts with my illustrations to make money, but I’ve never been able to have money as a motivator. Most people when starting a business today have that as their sole goal, but that doesn’t work for me. I want to create, not manage and distribute. In modern society everyone wants you to grow so fast, but it’s cool to stay at the level you’re comfortable with. Stabel is all about green growth and slow production, and to work smarter, not harder. Adding that she would love to create a thriving art community and experiences in Byneset. - There is really so much potential here. - Happiness equals sustainability Stabel still gets most of her art materials second hand. Currently she’s doing a lot of carpet and tapestries, which requires her to buy yarn and canvases. She’s always been really into weaving, but after getting a tufting gun she’s been obsessed, explaining the gun is really good for when you want to see the process. - Before giving myself permission, I couldn’t really let go and jump from one project to another, which is what my brain wanted to do. Now I really enjoy having several projects going at the same time. When buying the tufting gun I worried I was late to the trend and everybody else does this and so on. Then I posted my first work using it on Instagram; I’ve never
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gotten as much engagement before, so that was really exciting. After being really strict with herself, Stabel realized it’s not always necessary. - Sustainability isn’t always about materials. Currently I use this thick yarn called “fritidsgarn” from ethical productions in Norway, it’s great to work with. I don’t think art, unless on a huge scale, can have a negative impact. Creators make things to make the world a more beautiful and interesting place. I’ve been so hung up on only being fully sustainable, but then I realized I can’t limit myself 100%. To be sustainable is that each individual is content and happy. She believes art can never pollute as much as the clothing industry. - Art is holy in that way. It’s really fun to rework old stuff into something new. I recently reworked an old couch into something brand new with my tufting gun. Describing herself as an impatient soul she often changes her path or goes on a detour, always aspiring to follow her inner voice. She always wanted to be more of an artist, but never took the leap of faith, until now. Hopes to inspire Stabel hopes to inspire other people through her artwork. - I just want more people to be able to enjoy what you do and to do what you like. It’s of course challenging when money has to be made, but I don’t believe the big expensive house is the key to happiness, and I think more and more people are starting to think the same. She hopes her art can inspire others to do things like reworking an old sofa, starting a new hobby or changing your path of life to a slower, happier and more sustainable one. - There are many ways art could inspire. Quality of life is important and also one of the UN SDGs, and art can really make life better 31
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SHAPING ELGESESTER’S GREEN FUTURE Words Emma Steer Photography Kristian Storehaug & Hallvar Hauge Johnsen
Trondheim hosted its sixth Climathon to engage citizens and develop innovative ideas around Elgeseter’s upcoming sustainable redevelopment. Rainwater, a new app, and a healthy dash of collaboration could seed solutions. Wooden benches and donated library books line the floor-to-ceiling windows of Boker og Bylab. The fresh and airy atmosphere of this alternative library in the heart of Elgeseter offers itself as a blank canvas for new ideas. Like many great libraries, it is the perfect place to think. But importantly, it is also a place to discuss and share. It is here where students and researchers spent 12 intense hours as part of the Trondheim Climathon, exploring how Elgeseter can be transformed to become a sustainable innovation hub in the next ten years.
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Within those 12 hours, every bit of intelligent thought and hard graft was squeezed from the almost 30 enthusiastic Climathon participants. But the atmosphere also catalysed radical ideas and formed new friendships. Many participants had never met before the event and teams spanned academic disciplines and international cultures. “We have around 10 to 15 nationalities represented every year”, commented the Climathon organiser Chin-Yu Lee. “ It’s become a platform for international students to gain an insight into the municipality and make them aware of the city they are in”. 32
Knowledge to inspire From the start, the group was brimming with ideas. But Chin-Yu was keen for these thoughts to be powered by knowledge and an understanding of why Elgeseter was the focal point. The district is already bustling and diverse, but Elgeseter will undergo a huge redevelopment to become an innovation district, incorporating 12,000 more NTNU students and researchers. Given Trondheim’s status as a UN Centre of Excellence for Sustainability, there is a clear opportunity to team innovation and sustainable solutions. Therefore, the participants were first inspired by presentations from scientists, town planners, and start-up leaders living and working in Trondheim. Bjørn Ove Berthelsen from Positive City Exchange was the first to set the scene, highlighting Trondheim as a ‘Lighthouse City’ within the smart city project funded by the European Union. As a smart city, Trondheim will develop and install positive energy blocks and districts to share electricity within a local area. An example in Trondheim is the Powerhouse project, an energy microgrid in Trondheim’s northern district of Brattøra. Excess energy collected from the Powerhouse Brattørkaia building’s solar panels and heat pumps charges electric buses, or is shared with neighbouring buildings and the grid system. Pirbadet swimming pool and Rockheim music museum will soon also be part of this shared energy network. A similar flexible energy use project is underway in Sluppen with future plans to connect the two microgrids via a third in Gløshaugen. Solar panels don’t seem like the obvious choice for energy capture, given Trondheim’s cold and dark winters. However, Gabriele Lobaccaro an Associate Professor at NTNU explained how even four to five hours of sunlight a day can be efficiently captured. The answer is simple: in European northern climates, solar panels most effectively capture sunlight when placed vertically. This takes advantage of the low position of the sun in the sky and captures sunlight reflected by the snow. With additional technical features such as the ability to track the position of the sun, a solar panel in Norway can reach the same solar energy potential as in central Europe. Indeed, research to improve solar energy capture is also providing financial returns.
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Stian Backe, an Associate Professor at SINTEF and NTNU highlighted how solar and wind projects now cost less than fossil fuels as a global average. This is an achievement, given our long history of non-renewable energy extraction. Another milestone reached in Europe was in 2019 when wind and solar power produced more energy than coal. The next challenge is to provide consistent energy during calm and cloudy days. While alternatives such as batteries and hydropower begin to fill this gap, it’s flexible energy use that is the last piece of the puzzle. Collaboration meets competition What followed was a fevered hum of activity as teams swapped ideas, sketched out plans, and practised their pitches. The Climathon is a competition, but the collaborative spirit could be felt. One participant commented that “this is a safe space to suggest ideas and where I’m allowed to be enthusiastic”. The atmosphere that was created certainly worked its magic. As the teams gave their final pitch 10 hours in, excitement could still be felt fizzing through the room. The judges, representing Trondheim Kommune, NTNU, and Trondheim Tech Port were evidently impressed at the quality and diversity of the ideas pitched and after a long deliberation, the winners were announced. The winning teams Climathon winners, team MADS, pitched their plans to retrofit buildings in the Elgeseter area with piezoelectric panels to capture the energy created by falling rain water and grey water. They reminded the group that “the average person produces 100 litres of greywater every day, and the rain – that’s always there.” Although both water systems have been used separately around the world, the two technologies have not yet been combined as the team proposed. Light+ were the first runners up and focussed on sharing energy, proposing a business model that would connect Trondheim Kommune with electricity providers and the energy grid. This holistic idea would set the stage to expand Trondheim’s current microgrids. Finally, team 3Blades redirected the concept of nudge theory to improve responsible energy use. Their proposed app would gamify and positively reinforce
“These diverse outputs could only have been achieved by bringing together people with different perspectives” energy-responsible actions such as turning off unused lights, lowering the thermostat, and using public transport. The team argued that even if buildings get smarter, energy overuse will still exist if people don’t take care to use less energy than can be sustainably produced and shared. The Climathon bred innovative and complementary ideas, tackling sustainable energy challenges such as how to create more energy, better share existing energy, and encourage less energy use. These diverse outputs could only have been achieved by bringing together people with different perspectives in a space that nurtures collaborative ideas while competitively driving them forward. Striking this balance is not an easy feat, but in a library that combines knowledge, curiosity, and open discussion, new energy for sustainable solutions can be created. EIT Climate-KIC EIT Climate-KIC is a knowledge and innovation community (KIC) funded by the European Union. The community seeks to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon, climate-resilient society by 33
bridging the business, academia, non-profit and public sectors. This cross-fertilisation creates networks of expertise, innovative products, services, and systems which can be developed, marketed, and scaled-up. EIT Climate-KIC promotes innovation and entrepreneurship through three main streams: • Climathon: A programme to engage and inspire citizens • ClimateLaunchpad: An incubator to convert ideas into climate-positive businesses • ClimAccelerator: A programme to scale-up start-ups and their climate solutions • EIT Climate-KIC also runs educational programmes across Europe, including free online courses about how to engage people in climate change or run a hackathon. What is a Climathon? Climathons engage cities and citizens to engage in climate action. They are similar in concept to a hackathon in that they bring people together to collaborate and solve a common problem. Events take place in cities all around the world, from Accra and Arequipa to Yangon and Zürich. The ideas developed in these open and creative spaces lay the foundations for tangible projects and impact-driven start-ups. Importantly, they spark long-lasting conversations with decision makers around city plans and policies. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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ADVERTORIAL
CLINICS FOR HEALTHIER SOLUTIONS Words Courtney Killion
Partnering with IKEA In a new, exciting collaboration, IKEA and Gjensidige have established a Sustainable Development Goals Clinic together with the UN Charter of Excellence, Trondheim Sustainability Centre. During the clinics, companies present an issue to the students and interns working at the Sustainability Centre to find innovative solutions to business problem statements. Interns then hit the drawing board to conceptualise and problem-solve sustainable solutions that create win-win situations for both the customer, the company and the environment. The clinics provide a concrete case study of tangible results between cooperating partnerships, between the companies and Trondheim Centre for Sustainability. Model Kelly Riedesel, Student Coordinator for the Centre stated “IKEA came to us with this question: How can IKEA be more accessible and convenient for students with a focus on sustainability?” The students researched this topic, explored what would actually empower them to want to go to IKEA, and how they could achieve this while keeping sustainability at the forefront. The students envisioned is system where they could ride e-bikes with baskets to store their purchases, both to-andfrom IKEA, thus decreasing the need for cars and encouraging them to use greener mobility. IKEA had already been developing a
similar idea in their pipeline, and now, together with the students’ input, they are currently implementing these bikes in Trondheim. Four bikes are already available at IKEA for use! The Sustainability Centre serves as a type of liaison between businesses, who pose questions, and students, who have great ideas to share and a lot of enthusiasm! “Throughout this workshop we gained a lot of good input and understanding of the obstacles and preferences, which are important for the students when they choose to come to IKEA. We will continue to think of long-term solutions, but we also have some good ideas that we will test out in the short term as well” -- Stine Morgenstierne, Customer Relations Manager, IKEA. Kelly Riedesel fully agrees, “I love this aspect of our internship program because I think it shows companies how brilliant young minds can be, which encourages them to keep an open-mind to working with students. Additionally, the companies greatly benefit because the students often bring a perspective that wasn’t previously considered”, she says. Partnering with Gjensidige Gjensidige came to our students with another interesting question: How could they better link sustainability and mobility, with their core area of services, insurance? They wanted to find out how students with a background in sustainability studies, felt that insurance connected to their daily lives. The students working within Trondheim Sustainability Centre using 35
the SDG Clinic model once again hit the drawing board, and began their problem-solving. In this case, their attack plan was to read Gjensidige’s sustainability report and return with suggestions, and ideas that could be realised. The students had the benefit of reflecting on the business’ strategy, void of bias, enabling a flow of great ideas to be spawned. In one solution-concept of interest, the students suggested to create incentivising activities for customers to themselves, be both safer and more sustainable. For example, the students suggested a carbon-offset system where customers would be offered an option to pay a slightly higher sum for their insurance during their regular carbon footprint activities, like driving their car to work, to offset their carbon footprints. This carbon-footprint offset sum would then be donated to actors engaging in carbon-offset activities, like planting trees. SDG Clinic students also deeply reflected Gjensidige’s pre-existing work with the intent of making small adjustments for improvements, such as suggesting more sustainable ways to dispose of excess products. SDG Clinic intern, Bret Collins shares: “The Sustainability Clinic conducted with Gjensidige helped to provide better understanding on the way the insurance industry can incentivise the adoption of sustainable practices. From a student perspective, being able to communicate how the needs of students can differ from the needs of someone who is employed, was beneficial for both parties”. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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THE SUSTAINABLE UTLEIRA SPORTS TEAM: INCLUSIVITY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
How Utleira sports team went from 4.5 to 19 million kroner (in 2019) in annual turnover while including the community in their growth, all in a sustainable fashion. Words & Photography Elise Gull Askim
Utleira sports hall and field turf lies just where the city ends and the countryside of Trondheim starts. A great place for sports, filled with the sound of kids playing and a community that promotes sustainable lifestyles. Next door to cropland and farms. In a few short years, the previously quaint sports team has gained over 2000 new members. Utleira also opens its doors to local schools, kindergartens and other parts of the community. Anyone can borrow shoes, clothing and equipment. Local business and community members contribute to the varied donations that allow for this loaning. Everyone shares and everyone is equal. All sports use the same equipment and no player gets a new uniform until the old one’s all used up. “I found a ball far away in a field this morning. And one loose basketball in the hall, but that’s it. There’s never a big mess, even though an array of people use our facilities.” Manager Pål Wahl meets us just inside of the Utleira sports hall wearing a black and orange tracksuit. He took over the position as Manager of Utleira Sports Club in December 2013, after the time their synthetic turf field was made. At that time the only paid position in the club was the
“We choose to care more about virtues and values over rules and regulations”
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Giving back to the community “When we were building the field turf and sports hall we actually went door-todoor within the local community, asking people if they wanted to buy a share in our field turf at 250 NOK each. In the end, by asking people to sponsor us and making resources for the community, while by investing in the field turf in itself – it was a pretty cool solution. That managed to raise 1 million NOK, which is pretty mind blowing. When the hall was done in 2015 we felt a debt of gratitude to the local community and Trondheim province,” Wahl shares. That’s why they do measures like feeding approximately 50 local families a week, according to Wahl, bringing in 500 kilograms worth of food to the sports hall every Monday morning. The food isn’t just for members of the club, it’s for all locals in need. Volunteer Esther Breivang previously relied on food from the sports team, now she wants to give her thanks by helping more people get the food they need. “Look at this cabbage, it’s too big to be sold in store, nobody wants to buy that much cabbage at once apparently”, holding up a gigantic cabbage that would feed the Bucket family from Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for weeks.
role of manager in a 50% position. Today they have 4.5 full-time positions and a bunch of volunteers. “Early on in my time as manager of Utleira, I received an invitation to an American breakfast seminar about sustainability. I didn’t believe in myself, that I could do anything with an impact in a small club, in a small city, in a small country. Thankfully someone pressured me to attend, and I was surprised to see they used Utleira as an example and the things I thought were small, were not.” “We choose to care more about virtues and values over rules and regulations” Wahl brings out a lengthy, detailed document showing Utleiras strategy and measures that tightly follow the UN’s 17
goals for sustainable development. “What creates positive results is when people are working towards a common goal. I always try to be on a positive spiral. Too many rules and fees makes people argue. The only rules we follow are the SDG’s”, says Wahl. The biggest reason behind Utleira’s success according to Wahl, is due to the values everybody in the club and local community share, the leading virtue being inclusivity. Through our values we have seen our members gather around values instead of rules. They all have respect for one another other, which is important. Another key factor is delegation and trust for each other's work creates a better team spirit overall. 37
Tiger school “Our members don’t mind that we spend extra resources on kids that have fallen out of sports and the community, or school, due to various reasons. They understand and support that we want to be here for everyone. It’s always okay to ask for help. We make sure to have all the gear necessary so that no child feels left behind, due to economic difficulties. We also let people who are struggling get a reduced price or free entry and they always want to pay back later, even if it’s not necessary. A good human being equals a good player, so that’s why we have to in a way, be able to care for our members,” Wahl states. To strengthen the community and the youth, Utleira has developed something called the Tiger school which educates trainers and develops their players to be better. At regular practice you kind off get told what to do and when to do it, and at the Tiger school you learn how. And in Utleira some kids get their first paid job. They also collaborate with NAV on activities including job training. 2022 / UN SDG SPECIAL
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IN THIS ISSUE
FOOD & DRINK
LOCATION Strandveien 71, 7042 Trondheim CONTACT 40 69 74 00 HOURS Tuesday – Saturday 5pm - 12am
MAP
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You’ll find E.C. Dahls Pub og Kjøkken at the northern end of Lademoen right next to the iconic E.C. Dahls Brewery. Both the pub and the restaurant are inspired by American cuisine, placing a heavy focus on barbeque and dry aged meats (they have the best meat dehydrator in town!). With the E.C. Dahls name you know the beer will be plentiful, and delicious. Make sure to swing
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1. DIGS 2. E.C.Dahls 3. Gubalari 4. To Rom og Kjøkken
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by this winter to taste their selection of craft beers. Book a table at the restaurant, or just drop by the pub. In addition, E.C.Dahls Pub og Kjøkken offers guided tours and tastings at the brewery, so you can learn about the history behind, and making of, their exclusive brews. Perfect as an activity with your friends or visiting family.
GUBALARI
DIGS Take a little wander through Trondheim’s newest city square, Peter Egges Plass and you’ll find DIGS attached to the historical landmark of St. Clement’s Church. As Trondheim’s only ‘Italian piazza’ you can enjoy charming outdoor seating, with the relaxing sound of a water fountain in the background. Your children can climb on the playground while you enjoy the shade. DIGS’ café serves
E.C.DAHLS PUB OG KJØKKEN
At the newly opened K-U-K - Gubalari is Trondheim latest addition to the restaurant scene. Gubalari was a term introduced by Norway’s beloved tv-chef Ingrid Espelid Hovig in the 70s. Ingrid was a food trend pioneer and in her spirit, Gubalari aims to give you the best cuisine from the last 50 years. In a brand-new space, adorned with new sculptural art from Trondheim’s very own (and K-U-K benefactor), Kjell Erik Killi Olsen, Gubalari is the perfect place for a winter time lunch or dinner date.
LOCATION Krambugata 2, Trondheim HOURS Monday-Friday 8am-5pm Saturday 11am-5pm
unique daily lunches, as well as an á la carte menu, alongside baked goods and desserts. You can grab a bite, relax, work, or study while sipping a hot cup of Pala coffee, a refreshing house-made juice, or grab a brew with some friends. 38
LOCATION Kjøpmannsgata 38, Trondheim CONTACT 73 10 99 88 booking@gubalari.no HOURS Wednesday - Saturday 11am-11 pm, Sunday - Tuesday 11am - 6pm
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TROLL RESTAURANT
LOCATION Fosenkaia 4 A, 7010 Trondheim CONTACT trollrestaurant.no Kafeskuret.no 734 87 990
Troll Restaurant is located at Fosenkaia, one of the Trondheim restaurants overlooking the river. In a rustic and almost fairytale-like environment, Troll serves traditional Norwegian dishes with a different spin. All the menu items are based on local ingredients, like whale beef from Smøla and deer from the Trøndelag region. Head Chef Lars composes three- or fivecourse meals of the highest
TO ROM OG KJØKKEN
quality, for the best comparable price – offering tastes that will both impress and surprise their guests. If you want to make a night of it, why not combine your meal with a trip to Troll’s sister bar, Skuret, located just along the pier. Skuret is an old boat shed that hosts legendary parties throughout the summer. Check out their website kafeskuret.no for details.
LOCATION Carl Johans gate 5, 7010 Trondheim CONTACT 73 56 89 00 HOURS Monday – Saturday 5pm to 12am
Run by Roar Hildonen and Alexander Skjefte - both with great passion for food and drink - To Rom og Kjøkken focuses on the best produce from Trøndelag, the largest food region in Norway with a wide variety of seafood and other delicious local, smallscale products. To Rom og Kjøkken takes inspiration from french and nordic cuisine and uses world class ingredients from trøndelag in a unique way with no compromise. The restaurant also boasts an extensive selection
of 650 wines and 100 beers. To Rom og Kjøkken has a White Guide recommendation, tops Trip Advisor’s charts, recommended by Wine Spectator, is repeatedly given six out of six by national newspapers and was personally endorsed by chef Gordon Ramsey on his visit to Trondheim. This formal yet cosy restaurant, nestled in the centre of town, is where food lovers return to time and time again. Try their famous shellfish, they are always on the menu. 39
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DID YOU KNOW...
1 in 10 trips in Trondheim is a bike trip (yes, even despite all the hills, the wind, the rain, the snow ...)
In Trondheim you’ll find cyclists everywhere – all year long. In fact, biking has increased by 70 % since 2009.
• We’ve placed 39 bike lockers downtown. First four hours are free of charge! • We’ve built bike hotels at Leuthenhaven, Heimdal and Tonstad. • We’ve constructed 45 km of new bicycle paths. Right now we’re building an bike expressway east of the city centre. Miljøpakken (Greener Trondheim) is a partnership for sustainable transport in the Trondheim region. Together, municipalities, county and state invest in new infrastructure to facilitate biking, walking and use of public transport.