Kesko offsetting the environmental impacts of constructing Onnela logistics centre

Kesko and the City of Hyvinkää have agreed to compensate for the ecosystem degradation caused by the construction of the Onnela logistics centre and to generate new nature values in the Härkävehmaansuo area, adjacent to the Sveitsinpuisto nature reserve in Hyvinkää. The agreement was discussed and approved by the Hyvinkää City Executive at its meeting on 3 November 2025.

Under the agreement, Kesko will finance measures to enhance the area’s nature values and pay a fixed compensation for its conservation use. The amount of the fixed compensation is estimated at €327,000. The City of Hyvinkää will commit to implementing the measures to enhance nature values, protecting the area where nature values are generated from deterioration, and ensuring that the prevention of deterioration is taken into consideration in its assignment and other agreements relating to the area for the next 30 years. In practice, this means that the area will be used in a way that enhances its current nature values and will remain in recreational use for at least 30 years. Existing roads and outdoor trails may be maintained in the area. Established public “everyone’s rights”, such as mushroom and berry picking, will continue to apply in the area.

The offset site covers more than 60 hectares of drained wetland and forest areas.

“Since no management and use plans currently exist for the site, measures such as adding coarse woody debris, planting broadleaf trees and removing invasive species will improve its ecological status. This agreement also serves as a pilot that could provide a model for other municipalities and companies implementing ecological compensation in the future,” says Mika Lavia, Director of the Environment Office at the City of Hyvinkää. 

The agreement between Kesko and the City of Hyvinkää is partly based on the principles of voluntary ecological compensation laid down in the Nature Conservation Act. As the legislation on voluntary ecological compensation came into force only after the Onnela construction project had started, the compensation cannot be entered in the compensation register supervised by the authorities. For this reason, Kesko and the City of Hyvinkää agreed on a model whereby the generation of nature values takes place through their joint plan.

Environmental and nature values considered from the outset

The Onnela logistics centre, the largest single construction project in Kesko’s history, that was completed in autumn 2025 is located in northern Hyvinkää, near the Hämeenlinna road on the Northern ring road. 

“Protecting biodiversity is one of the key focus areas of our sustainability strategy. Environmental and nature values were considered from the outset in the construction of the Onnela logistics centre. Before construction was started, an ecologist carried out a survey of the project site, which helped to produce an estimate of the site’s nature values at baseline. The site’s remaining ecosystem degradation after mitigation measures was calculated by estimating the ecological status of the degraded habitat types and calculating the lost nature values using ecological compensation calculators. We then worked with the City of Hyvinkää to identify the most suitable site for compensation and created a plan to restore its nature values,” says Noomi Jägerhorn, Kesko’s Vice President for Sustainability.

In Onnela’s design and construction, particular attention was paid to reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint, thus reducing both costs and emissions over the property’s long life cycle.

Special attention was also paid to the insulation and sealing of the building’s walls and roofs. The building automation that controls the heating, cooling and lighting systems maximises the use of energy-saving automation. Onnela’s principal source of heating is geothermal energy. All electricity used in the logistics centre is renewable, and the site now has its own solar power plant. The building aims to achieve a BREEAM Very Good environmental rating. 

The text was revised on 10 November 2025 to provide greater clarity that the voluntary compensation model prescribed under the Nature Conservation Act has only been partially implemented. Pursuant to the Act, ecological compensation requires that environmental harm be permanently offset when the harm itself is permanent. In the case of Onnela, a 30-year contractual arrangement was adopted, as permanent acquisition of the land was not feasible.