Pekka Huovila

Advisor of Finland’s Ministry of Environment
Coordinator of the One Planet Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme

Pekka Huovila has over 30 years of experience in sustainable building research and practice in Europe and in developing countries.

He has coordinated the global UN One Planet Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme (SBC) https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/sustainable-buildings-and-construction since its start in April 2015 for the Ministry of the Environment, Finland, supported by Green Building Council Finland. SBC aims at improving the knowledge of sustainable construction and to support and mainstream sustainable building solutions to achieve SDG12 on sustainable consumption and production of the Agenda2030. Through the programme, all major sustainable construction activities can be brought together under the same umbrella. The work involves sharing good practices, launching implementation projects, creating cooperation networks and committing actors around the world to sustainable construction. Circularity in the built environment is a thematic focus area of the programme while looking also at responsibly sourced materials, resilience and affordability while supporting local job creation in emerging markets.

Pekka’s areas of interest cover also procurement systems and sustainability assessment. His company Sustainability Laboratory Oy www.slab.fi provides sustainable built environment consulting, project management, research & training services for private and public clients internationally.

Pekka has earlier acted e.g. as a Principal Scientist and Key Account Manager at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland for EcoCities in emerging economies, and as a Visiting Professor in University of Salford, UK. He has practical work experience from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.