The European Commission's proposal for Nature Restoration Law requires substantial restoration acts in Finnish forests

Good morning,

The European Commission proposed a Nature Restoration Law, which calls for binding targets to store degraded ecosystems. A special focus is on ecosystems with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters. One way to approach the initiative are statutory conservation areas.

Conservation areas are vital to biodiversity protection and carbon storage. In addition to European Commission proposal, UN Biodiversity Pact requires 30 % of waters and land area under conservation. According to Finnish Nature Panel, the Finnish status quo is far from the target.

Conservation areas are established for permanent nature conservation. They are regulated by the law, statutes and government orders; wood production is not allowed in conservation areas. Although the proposal for Nature Restoration Law doesn't implicitly require establishing new conservation areas, they are among the safest choices for biodiversity protection and carbon storage.

There are also other classifications regarding the restriction of wood production. In Finland, they are categorised in a classification system issued by the ministry of agriculture and forestry. One example of the categories is biodiversity conservation sites in commercial forests. In these areas, wood production is primarily not allowed, but logging not risking the area’s natural value can be permitted.

Biodiversity conservation sites in commercial forests are the Finnish equivalent to the UN Biodiversity pact sub-category “other effective area-based conservation measures”. Even though the classification aims for agile biodiversity protection, it leaves room for interpretation, which can lead to loggings in areas of natural value. For instance, this was the case in Suomussalmi where Forestry ltd implemented loggings in a state-owned natural forest in 2021. Forestry ltd has plans for loggings in similar areas categorised as biodiversity conservation sites in commercial forests.

Conservation by law would thus be among the most efficient ways to protect natural forests, with no ambiguity regarding logging. Finland has a long way to meeting the UN Biodiversity Pact goals. Also, with the Nature Restoration Law on the horizon, cutting down state-owned natural forests steers national biodiversity policy in the wrong direction.

Let's jump into this week's major headlines.

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

Major News Roundup

Reuters | EU to clamp down deadly air pollution with tougher laws. On Wednesday, The European Union proposed tougher legal limits on health-damaging dirty air and rules to make pharmaceutical companies pay to clean up wastewater polluted by their products.

The Guardian | Business groups block action that could help tackle biodiversity crisis. Industry associations representing some of the world’s largest companies are “opposed to almost all major biodiversity-relevant policies” and are lobbying to block them, according to a new report. The studied business groups represent wide range of sectors, from oil to agriculture.

The Guardian | Study: Illegal Fishing spurs billions in losses for developing countries. Developing countries are losing billions of dollars due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which siphons off revenue through illicit financial flows, according to a new study by the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC). The global practice is also a major driver of ecosystems' destruction.

Aljazeera | Emissions from China-invested overseas coal plants equal to Spain. Carbon dioxide emissions from China-invested power plants overseas now stand at an estimated 245m tonnes per year. The estimation is roughly equivalent to the annual energy-related CO2 emissions from countries the size of Spain or Thailand, new research from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center showed on Tuesday.

The Guardian | Emperor penguins listed as endangered by US because of climate crisis. The emperor penguin, the tallest and bulkiest of all penguin species, has been officially declared a threatened species by the US government due to the existential risk posed to the birds by the climate crisis.

Latest environmental news from Finland

HS | The European Commission Nature Restoration Law requires substantial restoration acts in Finnish forests. The initiative makes restoration mandatory, causing debate in forestry discussion.

YLE | The Finnish Climate Change Panel proposes national emissions trading for road traffic. The Finnish land use sector is currently a source of emissions; to meet carbon neutrality target by 2035, Finland must either acquire emission rights or reduce its emissions in other sectors, such as agriculture or road traffic.

YLE | Ambiguities in Finnish government-owned companies' carbon offsets. Yle MOT investigated Finnair, Fortum and others regarding their ventures for emission compensation.

• HS | Finnish restaurants' carbon offset venture in Kongo turns out unsuccessful.

Climate Pledges and action

The Guardian | Businesses call for nature impact disclosures to be mandatory by 2030 in an open letter to heads of state. More than 300 businesses, including H&M, Sainsbury’s and Nestlé, have urged world leaders to make it mandatory for companies to assess and reveal their impact on nature.

Reuters | Danish offshore wind power developers plan major capacity increase. Denmark's Orsted and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have teamed up to develop 5.2 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind in Denmark, corresponding to more than double the country's current installed capacity, the two companies said on Tuesday.

Reuters | Indonesia pledges more ambitious carbon emission cut. Indonesia has revised up its carbon emission reduction targets. The country pledges more effective land use and better energy policy to cut greenhouse gas emissions more than its 2015 Paris Agreement commitment.

• Reuters | Singapore lowers 2030 emissions forecast, as the country plans to reduce its carbon emissions target for 2030 to 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). Singapore's previous target was 65 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030.

Reuters | U.S. funds projects to explore nuclear waste reprocessing. The Biden administration on Friday said it is funding projects to recycle nuclear waste from power plants, including through reprocessing, a technology that has not been practiced in the United States for decades because of concerns about costs and proliferation.

Reuters | BlackRock raises $4.5 bln for climate-focused infrastructure fund. BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) has raised $4.5 billion out of an overall $7.5 billion-target for a new fund to invest in infrastructure assets aimed at climate-focused projects, the world's largest asset manager said on Tuesday.

Latest from the academics on environment, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration

The health of the world’s people is threatened by the global addiction to fossil fuels, according to a study. The analysis reports an increase in heat deaths, hunger and infectious disease as the climate crisis intensifies. The report titled Health at the Mercy of Fossil Fuels was issued by the Lancet Countdown group on health and climate change. (The Guardian)

New NASA instrument detects methane ‘super-emitters’ from space. NASA scientists, using a tool designed to study how dust affects climate, have identified more than 50 methane-emitting hotspots around the world, a development could help combat the potent greenhouse gas. The methane "super-emitters" were identified in Central Asia, the Middle East and the southwestern United States. (Aljazeera)

World Resource Institute assessment suggests reduction in meat consumption and other interventions in the world’s highest-emitting systems. According to the study, meat consumption should be reduced to the equivalent of about two burgers a week in the developed world, and public transport expanded about six times faster than its current rate. Rates of deforestation must also be rapidly reduced, and phasing out coal must happen about six times faster than is currently being managed, the study states. (The Guardian)

The Greenland ice sheet may be more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought, according to a University of Edinburgh study. While previous studies have shown that rising air and ocean temperatures both cause the Greenland ice sheet to melt, the new study reveals how one intensifies the effects of the other. (Science Daily)

Open sustainability positions

Picture of the week

References

• Metsien suojelutilaston laatuseloste – Luke

• Maanantaina aloitetut hakkuut on keskeytetty Suomussalmella – ­pai­kal­la on ym­pä­ris­tö­jär­jes­tö Green­pea­ce, metsien suo­je­lu­ar­vo­jen kar­toit­ta­jia ja Elo­ka­pi­nan met­sä­ak­ti­vis­te­ja – Kaleva

• Luonnonsuojelulaki

• Valtion kokoinen hakkuuaukko – Yle

• Nature restoration law - European Commission

• Valtava pala Suomea pitää pian palauttaa luonnon­tilaan – Tätä EU:n määräys tarkoittaa – HS