Carbon-smart Urban Green Infrastructure as a Climate Solution

Cities play a key role in achieving Finland’s carbon neutrality goal. In addition to reducing emissions, it is also necessary to increase carbon sinks. This is enabled by urban green i.e., all the green spaces in cities ranging from forests and meadows to built parks, street plants, and yards. Thus, it is important to better utilize the possibilities of urban green spaces as a potential carbon sink and as a cost-effective and multi-functional climate solution. CO-CARBON proposes carbon-smartness as a solution and suggests five ways to improve the carbon sequestration of green structures, to secure carbon sinks in urban planning, and to develop low-emission practices for landscape construction and management, while producing other vital ecosystem services at the same time.