Lappeenranta turns a green leaf with UPM
The city of Lappeenranta has come of age in symbiosis with UPM. For over 120 years, the forest giant has driven prosperity and innovation in the eastern Finnish border town newly voted as one of Europe’s greenest cities. “Lappeenranta wouldn’t be the vibrant city it is today without UPM,” says Mayor Kimmo Jarva. His words are more than a polite nod to the city’s top corporate taxpayer. Ever since the Kaukas mill was founded in 1873, the historic garrison town has evolved in close synergy with UPM. The mayor’s fourth-floor office provides sweeping views of the forests that have brought wealth to the town. The same forests now yield not only sawn timber, pulp and paper but also a new kind of “green gold” – circular innovations such as renewable biofuels, biochemicals and biomedical products.