In the last couple of months I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to participate in the leadership course focused on Sustainability, arranged by Swedish Institute and sponsored by Swedish Taxpayer.:) The programme itself has been tremendous and even more so the participants from seven post-Soviet countries. During the Programme I’ve also had the opportunity to get to know Swedish (business) culture, Sweden as a country and last but not least Swedes and their way of thinking.

By no means an exaggeration, sustainability is a way of living and thinking in Sweden. For me, the first encounter with the issue was when I checked in the hotel. How can the rooms in a fancy four star hotel in the very centre of Stockholm be so cold (on average I think my room was at 16-18 C)? In the beginning I thought that this was kind of like cutting corners – a way to save a little bit more money. Only in my third module did I realize that this is actually yet again one additional way for Swedes to be sustainable – putting on an additional piece of clothing is easy, but it surely helps the environment if you heat less.

You can see the sustainable mindset everywhere in Sweden. When a Swede craves for fast food, he goes to the largest local fast-food chain: Max Hamburgers. In Max, the amount of CO2 released during the production of each food is pointed out in the menu. And it takes into account ALL the CO2 starting from raising the cows and ending with the meatball frying on the pan in Max.

For the CO2 that it realises, Max plants corresponding amount of trees in Uganda and Mozambique to neutralise its impact. Don’t ask me if they have also counted the CO2 released while planting the trees. My bet would be that they probably have.

And the environmental issues are just one example of how Max addresses sustainability – they also have a company policy of having at least one mentally disabled employee in each one of their restaurants (and there are 75 of them all over Sweden). They also avoid all GMO-s and convert all of their used oil into biodiesel.

Fancy a healthy and ecological hamburger, anybody?

Would you think that it is not possible to grow organically 30% per year in the area of food production and sales? Well, think again. Saltå Kvarn has proved that this is not the case at all, exceeding this growth rate in the past 5 years. Saltå Kvarn produces and sells food and beverages that are 100% organically produced and healthy – no pesticides, no GMO, no preservatives or other chemicals added. Some products Saltå Kvarn also imports. And they go an extra step to make sure that they products are indeed what they claim them to be. For example, Saltå Kvarn tests all incoming foods in the laboratory to detect any use of pesticides or other additionals. One time, they found the traces of pesticides in the raisins coming from Turkey. As it turned out, their suppliers neighbour had poisoned its fields and the wind carried some of the pesticides to the suppliers field as well. Nevertheless, this shipment was sent back to Turkey.

As companies, so are the local people. For a Swede, sustainable lifestyle is a mindset, a way of living. Prices in the Hammerby Sjöstad, the local development based on a sustainable city principle, are high: you would have to pay 350 000 euro for a 75 square meter flat. Plus 500 euro each month for commodities. And the buildings in HS are packed – I’m talking much more packed than Kadrioru Liivaoja quarter in Tallinn. For the same money, you would get a larger flat with more space between the buildings in a prestigious area in Stockholm. But then again – that choice would not let you feel yourself being socially responsible.

Frankly speaking, I do not know anything about Swedish Mafia or their way of thinking. However, if the Mafia exists in Sweden, I’m sure it would think in a socially responsible way, just like pretty much every other entity in Sweden. Perhaps it would donate some of its “profits” to charities. Or maybe plant a tree in Uganda after each wrongdoing.:) This would just be such a Swedish thing to do, after all.