Inside Kalmar’s Move2Green ecosystem event: What’s our next move?

The heavy material handling industry is at a defining crossroads. Accounting for roughly seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, transforming logistics chains is both a commercial and an environmental imperative. To address this challenge and find actionable ways to achieve net-zero heavy industrial logistics chains by 2045, Kalmar brought together industrial companies, technology providers and research institutes in Helsinki on October 21, 2026, for the Move2Green ecosystem event.

The event was hosted by Linnea Harala, Move2Green Program Manager.

The future of heavy material handling

The event opened with an inspiring keynote from futurist and author Perttu Pölönen who challenged us to think differently about the future.

Building on this keynote, Tommi Pettersson, SVP, Strategy, Sustainability & Technology, shared how global megatrends are transforming customer operations across ports, distribution centers, manufacturing sites, and heavy logistics, highlighting five core focus areas for the next decade:

• Electrification and energy orchestration
• Digitalisation and AI
• Automation and remote control
• Resilience and security
• New business models

Impact of ecosystems

To lead the industry transformation, collaboration is essential. Annu Kotiranta from Business Finland demonstrated the impact of ecosystems and Veturi programmes co-funded by Business Finland. Evaluation of previous projects have shown promising results, including significantly increased cooperation, clear societal benefits and tangible innovation outputs. 

Co-creating the future

The afternoon was dedicated to three parallel interactive workshops structured around Move2Green's key themes: Electrification and Energy Storage, Data-Driven Services and Processes and Circularity and Responsibility. 

The workshops moved from future possibilities and shared ambitions to the key challenges we need to address, the capabilities and collaboration needed across the ecosystem, and the opportunities we can continue to explore together.

Following the workshops, an expert panel featuring ecosystem partners alongside Kalmar leaders discussed key insights from the sessions. 

What’s our next move?

The event marked a key milestone for Move2Green, and we’re looking forward to continuing the collaboration with the ecosystem and taking the next move together. 

“As Move2Green enters its next phase, our focus shifts to translating workshop results into further conversations, ecosystem projects, and technical working groups that bring us closer to achieving net-zero heavy industrial logistics chains by 2045,” says Susanna Kiijärvi, Move2Green Ecosystem Manager.

Join us and be part of the change

Do you share our ambition for net-zero logistics? Do you have solutions in electrification, alternative energy sources or data-driven optimisation? 

Join the ecosystem 

Read more about the Move2Green program.