Finland attracts international productions – strengths in sustainability and efficiency
Finland has emerged as an attractive destination for international audiovisual productions. Producers especially value the fluent approach to environmental responsibility, technical expertise, and flexible incentive system. Areas still needing development include particularly financial monitoring processes.
Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI’s project “The Green Transition of the AV Industry in Finland”, funded by the NextGenerationEU-program, concentrated on developing the industry’s sustainability, one action being sustainable internationalization. APFI conducted a study on international productions filmed in Finland in 2023–2024 to determine the extent to which sustainable development principles are followed and how well Finland’s working conditions and culture align with them. The focus was especially on ecological sustainability. The assignment was carried out by Media Minds in summer 2025.
The study included four diverse film and TV productions, both fictional and factual, representing three different continents: North America, Europe, and Asia. There were significant differences in sustainability practices among the productions. In two productions, sustainability was a central part of operations with particularly high standards.
Sustainable development in productions – natural environmental thinking
According to all interviewed international producers, Finland’s approach to sustainable development in audiovisual productions reflects Nordic thinking, where environmental awareness is a natural part of the operational culture.
Finnish production teams received special praise for their practices in productions where environmental responsibility standards were high.
International managers commended the Finnish team’s strong commitment and proactive approach to finding responsible solutions.
The productions’ technical infrastructure proved advanced in many aspects – for example, the vehicle fleet met Euro 6 emission standards. Additionally, Finland has more modern, ecologically sustainable vehicles available than, for instance, the Baltic countries.
Sustainability challenges occurred in productions where, for example, a crew of over a hundred people arrived in Finland from another continent working on a tight schedule. Although adapting sustainability practices to this work approach was challenging, the Finnish production company succeeded in incorporating sustainable development principles. One international production team reported learning significantly new practices in Finland: on the ecological side, they adopted principles of low-carbon transportation logistics and the use of recyclable materials, while on the social responsibility side, they appreciated Finnish work culture, where reasonable working hours, sufficient rest periods, and an equitable work environment led to both greater job satisfaction and higher-quality results.
The interviewed productions implemented diverse sustainable development measures: catering favored regional and organic products, food waste was minimized by mapping crew preferences in advance, some days catering was fully vegetarian, and single-use plastics were banned. International producers compared Finland’s situation to other production countries, noting that while many countries require separate guidelines and supervision for environmental practices, in Finland sustainability is a natural part of production culture.
Sustainability is not complete – challenges remain
In interviews with international productions, it emerged that despite Finland’s recognized strength in built-in environmental thinking, we face the same practical challenges as other Northern Hemisphere filming locations. Energy solutions for remote filming locations particularly need development – in cold conditions, electric vehicle usability decreases and charging infrastructure is inadequate in sparsely populated areas. Producing ecological electricity for distant filming locations is challenging, especially during winter. However, these challenges are not unique to Finland but common development areas for the entire industry. Solving them requires international cooperation and developing unified operational models.
— Despite Finland’s recognized strength in built-in environmental thinking, we face the same practical challenges as other Northern Hemisphere filming locations.
International productions also bring their own requirements. For example, green electricity certificates had to be issued by certain European certification bodies (TÜV Nord or TÜV Süd), which caused extra work in documenting otherwise functional environmental practices.
Besides technical challenges, differences in production cultures are clearly visible in international productions. The Finnish way of working ten-hour days five days a week differs significantly from practices in many countries. For example, in Asian production culture, 12-hour workdays seven days a week are common. This required special arrangements from Finnish production companies, such as rotating multiple crews to comply with collective agreement and ensure workplace well-being.
Incentives and efficiency – how Finland charms international producers
In addition to sustainable development, Finland stands out in many other areas in the eyes of international productions. Producers repeatedly highlighted Finns’ technical expertise and practical problem-solving ability – especially in winter filming, Finnish professionalism is unparalleled. The reliability and efficiency of Finns even in challenging conditions came up in several discussions.
Finland’s production incentive system was also seen as a significant strength.
International producers particularly appreciated that both national and regional incentives operate flexibly with quick decision-making.
This agility enables smooth production launches and, when necessary, rapid changes to production plans.
Although many practices received praise, areas for development also emerged in the interviews. The most significant difference from international practices is in the accuracy of financial monitoring – in North American production culture, every dollar is systematically documented and traced, while the Finnish approach is considerably more informal. Although the Finnish system works well in domestic productions, it may not meet international production standards in areas like purchase order processing or daily expense tracking.
According to the report, this challenge is particularly pronounced in larger international productions where financiers require detailed financial reporting. Finnish production companies could develop more precise financial management processes and documentation systems, especially with international co-productions in mind.
Path to global leadership: education, collaboration and courage
Developing responsible practices requires active information exchange and collaboration between both Finnish and international actors. A systematic way of sharing experiences and best practices from international productions could be created among APFI member companies. This could take the form of regular workshops and case analyses.
To strengthen international competitiveness, concrete actions are also needed to develop expertise. One key development proposal from the interviews is an exchange program for line producers and production managers. Through this program, Finnish professionals could work in international production companies, and reciprocally, we would gain international expertise in Finland. This would help standardize practices and strengthen the competitiveness of Finnish productions in global markets.
Developing financial management processes and documentation to meet international standards could be one focus area of the exchange program. At the same time, the program would offer an opportunity to develop best practices in environmental responsibility and certification systems to meet requirements from different countries.
Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI is a non-profit association dedicated to representing the interests of Finnish audiovisual producers. Sustainability is one of the pillars of APFI’s mission, and APFI has since 2021 run national initiatives to promote environmentally sustainable practices in the industry. APFI:s work on environmental sustainability is funded by the NextGenerationEU-program, via the Ministry of Education and Culture.
