Insight
The Gatekeeper model started from a simple question: What if people were systematically guided to choose the most climate-friendly option when making the big, long-term decisions in life – housing, mobility, diet? Those choices lock in not only financial futures but also carbon footprints for years ahead. The idea was to shift persuasion to the point of delivery, when advice really matters.
The model focused on three steps: 1) Target big lifestyle decisions, 2) Identify the professionals who shape them, and 3) Help those professionals design services that naturally steer people toward low-carbon paths. In this way, a salesperson, a chef, or a mobility planner could discover that their everyday work was already a “green job.”
Gatekeeper quickly moved from concept to practice. We organised co-design workshops with hundreds of professionals – hardware store clerks, janitors, mobility planners, lifestyle journalists – bringing theory into lived reality. Many of the ideas born there later surfaced in companies, public services and even new startups launched by participants.
Process
In 2009 the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland asked us to explore how behavioural interventions could cut lifestyle emissions for the government’s futures review on climate change. Our research showed that traditional awareness campaigns rarely shift behaviour – unless the message is brutally simple and instantly actionable. Instead, we proposed a systemic approach based on peer influence, role models, and the professionals who shape people’s long-term choices: The gatekeepers.
The idea caught the attention of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, who asked us to turn it into practice. Over 2.5 years we ran workshops for 15 professional groups, from hardware store salespeople to chefs, journalists, and mobility planners. Each workshop was a two-day sprint designed to show participants that their everyday work could become a green job – helping clients choose energy-efficient windows, plant-based meals, or rail-based holidays.
The results were striking. Dozens of practical concepts emerged, many later adopted by companies, public services, and even startups founded by participants. The process also proved a bigger point: When you give professionals the tools and confidence to act, they become powerful agents of systemic change.
Outcomes
Some of the most tangible highlights stand out clearly. Finland’s largest hardware store chain launched a new service concept for energy-efficient renovations – and even created training programmes for salespeople to specialise in climate-smart solutions. The country’s biggest workplace cafeteria operator re-designed its menus with the goal of slashing emissions, bringing dozens of new low-carbon meals to everyday lunch tables. A municipal catering company built its own climate guidelines, directly linking its kitchens to the city’s carbon neutrality goals. And even a lifestyle magazine shifted course, adopting a new editorial policy that placed low-carbon living at the heart of its storytelling.
Partners
The core Demos Helsinki team included Tuuli Kaskinen, Outi Kuittinen, Roope Mokka, Mikko Rissanen and Simo Vassinen. Our go-to visual wizard participated every workshop, building so-called “super presentation” that convinced the participants on their new role as gatekeepers, as well as honing the slides that introduced the concepts created by participants.
Sitra: Vesa-Matti Lahti, Jukka Noponen and Tuula Sjöstedt
Prime minister’s office: Pirkko Heikinheimo, MP Oras Tynkkynen
Rautakesko: Tuulikki Markkula and Jesse Mether
S-Group: Lea Rankinen
Fazer Amica (later Compass Group): Jaana Korhola
Bonnier publication: Nina Leino, Anna-Kaari Hakkarainen, Liisa Karttunen
Erämys – Keisarin Kosket: Sauli Orimus
Susanna Saikkonen
Reflection
All this took place between 2008 and 2012, well before “nudging,” behavioural insights, or design interventions became buzzwords. We were early in pointing out that housing, mobility, and food were the big levers for lifestyle-based emissions, and we framed the work differently from the start.
The Gatekeeper model was never about shifting responsibility onto individual consumers or tinkering with micro nudges. It was about re-shaping choice architectures in the places that really matter – where people make long-term decisions – and supporting companies to build new business models around them. It gave consumer-facing businesses a bigger purpose: To guide both their employees and their customers toward lifestyles that are lighter on energy and materials, yet more resilient and affordable in the long run.
In this sense, the model anticipated what genuine corporate responsibility in climate mitigation could mean. Not just trimming emissions in one’s own operations. Not just selling niche eco-products. But creating new value by persuading people to live well in ways that are sustainable – rethinking the value chain, the lifecycle, the service concept, the business model itself. After all, consumer businesses already persuade people every day. Why not persuade them toward choices that are good for both people and the planet?
That leap remains rare. Even today, despite net-zero pledges, ESG strategies, and endless eco-labels, 99.9% of consumer businesses still hesitate to take it.
