Sustainable investments in unstable times

The Ukraina crisis has got me thinking more about the fact that we are a small country right next to big all mighty Russia. Honestly I havent before really thought about it in any other way than the fact that Russia is a huge market which we should be able to benefit much more than we are doing. But now when its been shown to us that whatever can happen, I started thinking about my own personal economy. Is it wise to have all assets bound in our house? How would big political unstability impact the value of our main asset? 

I have been dealing quite a lot with Egypt the last years and when discussing, planning and calculating different scenarios for developing EcoCities in Egypt, the political instability always comes up in the discussions. Of course it does, it impacts everything. It is probably challenging to get investors exited about investing in high tech fancy technical solutions, even if you could show that it pays back in short time. The unstable situation puts a whole other dimension in the context. Is the investment safe? Will it hold its value? How will energy prices evolve over time? How will the value of land and property evolve?

High investment solutions in Viikki, Helsinki, Finland.

The positive thing is that there are many many things we can do in moving towards a more ecological society without big investments. There are architectonic energy efficient solutions that doesnt cost more than the normal way of building. Awareness raising about waste management, water and energy usage and about using public transportation doesnt cost much either. Putting all these actions into use will make a huge difference to the current state.

Passive low cost cooling solutions in Freiburg, Germany.

Why comparing the situation in Finland with Egypt? Well, in my head it is about turning my own personal micro-economic and ecologic speculations into a wider context and about understanding that people are people all over the world. Despite cultural differences we want in the end pretty much the same thing: a secure and easy life.