Finland's roadmap to carbon neutrality

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Finland's roadmap to carbon neutrality

The Finnish Climate Panel has published a memorandum of guidelines for national context to achieve carbon neutrality. The panel contributes on Finland's behalf in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. Here are the most pertinent giveaways of the Finnish panel's latest account:

• Green transition, especially hydrogen economy, is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of Finnish businesses. In order to maximize the innovation potential, the account underlines a need for suitable government intervention. Examples: a hydrogen strategy to advance the industry innovations; carbon-negative targets, implemented by using Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) technology.

• Finland must follow the EU 2030 Climate Target Plan: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 55 % below 1990 levels by 2030.

• Strenthening the net sink of the Finnish land use sector. The land use sector became a source of emissions in 2021, and this trend needs to take a radical turn, the account urges. Examples: reducing soil emissions, minimizing deforestation and stimulating forest growth. The panel emphasizes that cost-effectiveness should be a central guideline in planning this policy.

• Decreasing emissions in the burden-sharing sector. Examples: emissions trading system for national road traffic, reducing emissions in the energy sector and reducing methane emissions from agriculture.

Finland aims to be carbon neutral by 2035. To achieve this goal, the magnitude of fossil and process emissions must equal the net sink in the land use sector and technological sinks combined. After this, the emissions should continue diminishing, and the sinks grow.

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

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

The Guardian | EU to crack down on greenwashing with ‘proportionate’ penalties. A draft plan addresses inflated claims about products’ environmental credentials: companies will have 10 days to justify green claims about their products or face “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” penalties. Inflated claims by firms about their products’ environmental properties have grown along with public awareness of global heating in recent years.

CNBC | Scientists urge: Climate engineering must be studied before climate change gets much worse. More than 60 scientists advocate for a careful and coordinated study of reflecting sunlight to cool the Earth before the effects of climate change become so obvious and urgent that citizens and governments demand action. They believe this could happen in the next 10 to 20 years given the current trajectory of CO2-reduction plans.

• Euronews | Sun blocking tech ‘no substitute’ for emissions reduction, warns UN. A recent UNEP report into Solar Radiation Modification concludes that at present, deploying the technology at large-scale is not viable or sufficiently safe, given the limited scientific understanding and uncertainty about the potential impacts and unintended consequences.

Reuters | Severe floods and landslides in Brazil. At least 57 people have died from heavy rains that devastated coastal areas of Brazil's southeastern Sao Paulo state.

The Guardian | Revealed: scale of ‘forever chemical’ pollution across UK and Europe. PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”, which don’t break down in the environment, build up in the body and may be toxic, have been found at high levels at thousands of sites across the UK and Europe, a major mapping project has revealed.

Reuters | Italy to vote against EU plan to ban thermal engine cars. Rules approved this month by the European Parliament will require that by 2035 carmakers must achieve a 100% cut in CO2 emissions from new cars sold, which would make it impossible to sell new fossil fuel-powered vehicles in EU. Italy intends to vote against European plans to outlaw the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 12 years.

Reuters | Brazil's Amazon must be protected to reach global climate goal, U.S. envoy says. The world cannot meet its climate goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius unless it protects the Amazon rainforest, climate envoy John Kerry said in Brazil on Tuesday while discussing possible U.S. funding for jungle conservation.

Aljazeera | Dozens of forest fires scorch Cuba, threatening brittle economy. An estimated 80 wildfires have struck the country since January, with blazes approaching the populous Santiago de Cuba. The vast forest fires are bearing down toward the province of Santiago de Cuba, home to the country’s second largest city.

The Guardian | Record number of dead dolphins wash up on France’s Atlantic beaches. Scientists say the figure is only a ‘tip of iceberg’ and that dolphins becoming tangled in fishing gear is main cause of death

HS | Finland joins forces with ten EU countries to promote nuclear power. The cooperation between countries aims to speed up the phase-out of using fossil fuels in Europe.

HS | A considerable loss detected in Lapland palsa bogs due to climate change. As the mean temperatures have risen, bogs' icy cores have experienced irreversible melting.

HS | The Greens would to multiply the number of new offshore wind farms by 2035. The current wind power generation capacity is 8,1 terawatt-hours; the party suggests it should be 100 terawatt-hours by 2035.

Finnish Government | Climate barometer: The Finns see climate action as less crucial than in 2019, before the previous parliamentary elections. Nevertheless, Finnish people still support climate acts and reducing national emissions.

HS | What is wood fuels' role in Finland's CO2 emissions? Despite the successful phase-out of fossil fuels, burning wood has increased in the previous decades, making it harder to reach the carbon neutrality target.

Reuters | Greta Thundberg detained after joining wind farm protesters to block access to several Norwegian ministries. Norway's supreme court in 2021 ruled that two wind farms built at Fosen in central Norway violated Sami human rights under international conventions, but the turbines remain in operation more than 16 months later. Indigenous and environmental activists demand the removal of wind turbines from reindeer pastures.

HS | Helen Ltd continues to burn coal and briquettes until spring 2025. The Helsinki City energy company has canceled its previous decision to phase out burning coal by spring 2024.

Reuters | Nordea's ESG funds have little thirst for Coke and Pepsi. Some Nordea Asset Management funds are cooling on fizzy drink makers like Coca-Cola and Pepsico because of concerns about their plastics and water use. NAM is known for being sympathetic to environmental, social, and governance issues and has previously dropped stocks that don't meet its ESG standards.

Reuters | China widens renewable energy supply lead with wind power push. China has been the world's largest and fastest-growing producer of renewable energy for more than a decade. The country has added more wind generation capacity in the past two years than over the previous seven. In 2022 China generated 46% more wind power than all of Europe, which is the second-largest wind generation market.

Reuters | India to ban oil tankers and bulk carriers older than 25 years. Age norms will assist in ensuring the gradual phasing out of fossil fuel ships and ushering in alternate/low carbon energy efficient ships. Under current guidelines, vessels that are less than 25 years old can be acquired without any technical clearance.

Yle | Ambitious forest and bogland protection in Häme: the region founded 70 new nature conservation areas in 2022. A total of 695 hectares of conservation areas were founded in the area.

STT | Engineering company Raksystem to invest € 35 M to fight against climate change in 2023–2026. The investment aims to push sustainability transition in construction and real estate, as they are among the most emission-intensive industries.

STT | S-Bank investment manager Mika Leskinen was named among the top 50 ESG influencers in the world. The ranking was curated by Onalytica Influencer Marketing Platform.

Climate change as a global amplifier of human–wildlife conflict. Climate change is a critical yet underappreciated amplifier of human–wildlife conflict, as it exacerbates resource scarcity, alters human and animal behaviours and distributions, and increases human–wildlife encounters. Researches have syntetisized evidence of climate-driven conflicts occurring among ten taxonomic orders, on six continents and in all five oceans. The paper introduces a framework describing distinct environmental, ecological and sociopolitical pathways through which climate variability and change percolate via complex social–ecological systems to influence patterns and outcomes of human–wildlife interactions. Identifying these pathways allows for developing mitigation strategies and proactive policies to limit the impacts of human–wildlife conflict on biodiversity conservation and human well-being in a changing climate. (Nature Climate Change)

Diets rich in food from the ocean and freshwater sources can help address nutritional and environmental challenges. Blue foods – those that come from the ocean or freshwater environments – have tremendous potential to help address several global challenges. With careful implementation of policies that leverage these foods, nations could get a boost on efforts to reduce nutritional deficits, lower disease risk, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and ensure resilience in the face of climate change, according to a University of California study. (Science Daily)

Children's lung capacity improved in cleaner air. As air pollution in Stockholm has decreased, so has the lung capacity of children and adolescents has improved, a new study published in the European Respiratory Journal reports. The researchers from Karolinska Institutet consider the results important, since the lung health of the young greatly affects the risk of their developing chronic lung diseases later in life. (Science Daily)

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