Sustainable Work Environment — Nordic Labour Journal

Danish expert: Support young people to get pregnant, not to freeze their eggs

(Mar 25, 2024) Female employees in large American companies can have their eggs frozen and delay having children – as a workplace benefit. A leading Danish infertility expert recommends Nordic employers and governments take an opposite approach and support young people to have children while they are students or newly employed.

The greatest threats to energy supply in the Nordic region

(Mar 23, 2023) Nordic Energy Research has presented a list of risks to the energy market. Topping it, somewhat surprisingly, is the long approval process facing new energy projects along with the fact that there is little public support for state-funded infrastructure investments.

When sustainability becomes the fashion

(Jan 19, 2023) The circular economy is only part of the solution for making our society greener. But it is very concrete and it is easy to measure its results. The circular economy is the theme for this edition, and we look at how it influences trade, fashion and the textile industry.

Finland shows the way towards a circular economy

(Jan 19, 2023) Finland wants to be a world leader in the change towards a circular economy. To do that, the country has taken a holistic approach and written the world’s first national roadmap detailing the necessary measures.

EU initiative will make circular products the new normal

(Jan 19, 2023) Sustainable and circular products will be the new normal in EU markets. That is at least the idea behind the EU Commission’s initiative for a new circular economy action plan which is now being scrutinised by the EU decision-making machinery.

How donated textiles become new clothes

(Jan 19, 2023) Fashion and textiles are environmental bad guys in terms of raw material production, work environments and pollution from processes to finished products and transport. There are many ideas for circular solutions in all parts of the chain, but it will take time to turn this big ship around.

Sustainability brings new Nordic retail jobs

(Jan 19, 2023) Clas Ohlson is one of the companies striving to make a difference for the planet. It aims to be carbon neutral with a circular value chain by 2045 and is already underway.

Sustainability requirements at the Copenhagen Fashion Week

(Jan 19, 2023) For the first time ever, the Nordics’ largest fashion week has implemented sustainability requirements for participating fashion brands. A new era, but the road to a sustainable fashion industry is long, says expert.

Healthcare staff in Sweden look forward to stricter daily rest rules

(Jan 19, 2023) A minimum of 11 hours of consecutive rest between shifts. That is the result of negotiations between Swedish trade unions and employers. Rules had to be changed after the European Commission questioned certain parts of the Swedish collective agreement on working hours.

From modest environmental goals to the world's most sustainable region

(Mar 25, 2022) 23 March marked 60 years since the signing of the Helsinki Treaty in 1950. It came into force on 1 July that year and saw amongst other things the creation of the Nordic Council of Ministers – the Nordic governments' cooperation body.

Is the green transition going too fast?

(Mar 25, 2022) All the Nordic countries agree that a green transition is needed in order to stop a climate catastrophe. But should the transition also do more than reduce CO2 emissions?

Danish government green flights plan causes turbulence

(Mar 25, 2022) The Danish government has promised that the first carbon neutral domestic flights will operate from 2025 and that all domestic flights will be carbon neutral from 2030. Industry giants will start large-scale production of green aviation fuel even sooner. All good but not enough, says environment think-tank.

Finnish EU Green Capital kept the transition going

(Mar 25, 2022) Many cities are fighting for the honour of becoming the European Green Capital. In Lahti, which held the title in 2021, the environmental work and green projects continue apace.

A fish beer, anyone? The Finnish brewery that went green

(Mar 25, 2022) Beer and the environment might not be obvious bedfellows. But the little brewery Ant Brew in Lahti uses waste products that would normally have been thrown out in order to create new and exciting beers.

Reindeer herders want Norwegian wind farm demolished

(Mar 25, 2022) Europe’s largest onshore wind power plant, built near Trondheim in Norway by Fosen Vind, could face dismantling after a supreme court win by indigenous reindeer herders.

Renewed drive to fight work-related crime in the Nordics

(Mar 25, 2022) All of the Nordics have intensified the fight against work-related crime. Norway’s new government has launched what it calls a spring clean of the Nordic labour market. Sweden’s deputy Minister for Employment Johan Danielsson has been tasked with coordinating the policy, and recently visited Oslo where he met his Norwegian colleague Marte Mjøs Persen.

10 year Swedish research programme into the future of working life

(Jan 28, 2022) Green change, globalisation and artificial intelligence are among the changes facing the labour market today and in the future. In 2017, a ten-year-long research programme was launched in Sweden, aimed to better understand and tackle the future challenges facing working life.

Varða in Iceland: a bridge between trade unions and academics

(Jan 28, 2022) Iceland's labour market research institute Varða was set up in February 2020 by The Icelandic Confederation of Labour ASÍ and the Confederation of State and Municipal Employees BSRB. The purpose was to strengthen social and economic labour market research and bridge the gap between academics and the labour market.

Sweden: most casual jobs and lowest work protection

(Jan 28, 2022) Sweden has the highest unemployment levels among the Nordics, and also more casual jobs and lower employment protection levels for those on temporary contracts. An award-winning dissertation shows the consequences deregulation has had for people without permanent employment.

Call for joint Nordic sanctions against countries behind cyber attacks

(Jun 29, 2021) Nordic countries’ cybersecurity skills are improving, but what happens when an attacking country is identified? On 30 June, the Nordic Council will debate proposed joint Nordic sanctions in the case of cyberattacks. The proposal already has support among Norwegian researchers.