Finnish Customs is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its operations. The most significant impacts stem from the office premises, procurement, information and communication technology and travel. As a security authority, Finnish Customs has certain duties or areas where we cannot always choose the most environmentally friendly option. Examples include certain official vehicles. However, we have identified areas where we can reduce our environmental footprint without compromising our performance. The environmental programme and the EcoCompass environmental management system used by Customs guide efforts to promote sustainability. In 2025, our EcoCompass certification was renewed for another three years following an audit, and we were praised for our comprehensive efforts to promote environmental matters.
We also use a network-based approach to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders in sustainability and environmental matters. The State Treasury’s sustainability network supports the consideration of environmental factors, and Finnish Customs has been actively involved in the development of the Kestävyyskompassi (Sustainability Compass) website and a sustainability assessment tool to support the efforts of the sustainability network.
As part of the assessment of our own environmental impact, we organised a digital cleanup campaign in the autumn of 2025. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness of the economic impact of digital content as well as its impact on information security, data management and the environment. The personnel were encouraged to delete unnecessary data from their email accounts and network drives. The campaign served as a good start for establishing a new operating culture both at Finnish Customs and in other organisations, as it sparked interest among our stakeholders. In fact, we have shared information about our digital cleanup experience with various parties, and the digital cleanup will continue at Customs in 2026 as well.
Changes in the operating environment have been reflected in travel and the use of facilities. With the eastern border closed, Finnish Customs’ personnel have been assigned to border crossing points in various parts of Finland where the workload has increased. This has led to an increase in travel. At the same time, we have been able to make modest reductions in our office space by means such as transferring our underutilised premises on the eastern border to the Border Guard.
In this section, we will provide more detailed information with examples about the environmental footprint of Finnish Customs, including aspects such as office premises, travel and digital cleaning.
Our sustainability efforts
During 2025, the amount of office space was reduced moderately. As the facilities on the eastern border have seen less use, the free space has been made available to parties such as the Border Guard. In addition, the decision was made to close some other offices with very few employees during 2026.
In 2025, the overall floor area of premises per person-year and the amount of office space per person-year increased slightly despite the reductions, as the number of person-years declined. The reduction in space is nevertheless reflected in a slight decrease in the cost of office premises.
Cost of office premises (EUR thousand per person-year)
Overall floor area of premises per person-year
Office floor area per person-year
In the development of office spaces, the principle of efficient use of space is applied, emphasising the appropriate use of office spaces, their adaptability to various purposes and their sustainable life cycle rather than the amount of space in itself. The goal is to ensure that the facilities in use support Finnish Customs’ operations and remain safe with manageable costs throughout their entire lifecycle.
The effects of this principle have been assessed in two large-scale development projects. The assessments examined the impact of the use of space on operational efficiency, safety, life-cycle costs and the working conditions of personnel. The results will be used in the future for premises design, investment decisions and service capacity design. In 2026, the principle of efficient use of space will be applied during the relocation of personnel to different offices following organisational changes.
In 2025, Finnish Customs organised a competitive tendering process involving eight cleaning contracts. The competitive tendering processes were conducted in accordance with Hansel’s Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).
Preparations for the competitive tendering process began with a market survey to assess suppliers’ willingness to submit tenders for larger contracts than before. Based on the responses, several facilities were consolidated into joint contracts in order to create larger, more attractive packages for suppliers. At the same time, administrative work was reduced and savings of approximately 12% were achieved in cleaning services.
Finnish Customs’ contracts help reduce the risk of labour exploitation. Cleaners undergo a security clearance procedure before starting work, and they must always carry an ID card when moving around Customs’ premises. Cleaners do not work at night; instead, other Customs personnel are also present when they are on the premises. In addition, in accordance with Hansel’s DPS terms and conditions, suppliers are required to hire unemployed job seekers when possible.
Environmental considerations are taken into account in supplies such as toilet paper and soap, for example; whenever possible, products with an ecolabel are selected. The supplier is also required to report on matters such as the quality of cleaning products (list of chemicals) and the quantities used, as well as the energy consumption of cleaning equipment.
Finnish Customs’ travel expenses remained at the same level as the previous year, and the savings target was not met. Most of the travel expenses are related to customs control, specifically the daily allowances and accommodation costs of personnel on assignment at other locations due to the closure of the eastern border. Travel expenses, including costs related to official travel, amounted to approximately EUR 1.3 million in 2025 and a total of EUR 2.8 million since December 2023. The costs of official travel have been covered by additional funding (EUR 3.2 million).
Travel expenses (EUR per person-year)
Excluding the impact of official travel, travel expenses decreased by about 5%. Cost-cutting measures, such as holding the unit meeting in person only once a year, have had some effect. The second-largest source of travel expenses after official travel is in-person training, specifically students’ daily allowances and accommodation costs. Training costs were nevertheless approximately 5% lower than the previous year.
The total number of travel days rose slightly from the previous year, but the number of trips abroad continued to decline. The decline in travel related to meetings and training was also reflected in a decrease in the number of train trips, which fell by 19% compared to the previous year.
Travel days per person-year
Finnish Customs has approximately 276 official cars. Most of them are used for operational activities. Diesel cars account for 201 of the vehicles, 13 use petrol, 59 are plugin hybrid cars and three are fully electric cars. Compared to 2024, there are slightly fewer diesel vehicles (2 pcs) and one more hybrid.
In 2025, the average emissions of official cars owned by Customs were 123 g/km, the average age was 10.8 years and the average fuel consumption was 4.9 l/100 km.
The number of kilometres driven in official vehicles continued to increase in 2025 due to the ongoing reassignment of personnel from the eastern border.
This year, we will explore and pilot the use of leased vehicles as an alternative to ownership. The goal is to assess the impact of leasing on life-cycle costs as well as the duration of commitments and fleet flexibility in changing operating environments. The leasing model could reduce the amount of capital tied up for the long term, make it easier to replace vehicles and simplify the process of adapting the vehicle fleet to changing needs.
We held our first digital cleanup campaign at Finnish Customs in October 2025. The purpose of the campaign was to provide a comprehensive overview of the benefits of digital cleanup from the perspectives of information security and data management, as well as to raise awareness of the impact of unnecessary data on costs and the environment. In the campaign, we focused on cleaning up emails and cloud storage. The goal of the campaign was to free up storage space in email and cloud storage, achieve cost savings and raise awareness of the risks and impacts of digital data.
During the month-long campaign, we held six different events with the help of a cross-administrative expert group: the campaign launch and closing events, sessions on email and cloud storage etiquette and cleanup tips as well as two support clinics. In addition, questions could be submitted via a form throughout the campaign. The questions were answered in writing, and the materials produced during the campaign remain available to the personnel.
The digital cleanup campaign was well received, and many people said that they had learned something new. Many were surprised by the costs associated with using email and cloud storage capacity. As a result of cleaning up email inboxes, the amount of storage used dropped by more than 5,000 GB, or to less than half of what it was when the campaign began. The size of email archive files in cloud storage also decreased by about 60%. In contrast, the use of cloud storage increased. This may be related to either moving files out of email or factors such as the organisational reform.
The digital cleanup also yielded various recommendations for improvement, such as standardising the digital skills of personnel and establishing common best practices for data management. The digital cleanup will continue throughout 2026 as we begin clearing out the workspaces that will be decommissioned. The campaign also sparked interest in other agencies, and it will be presented to various organisations during the spring of 2026.