Giant Pandas brought protecting Finnish nature to the discussion

Good Morning,

The two Giant pandas at Ähtäri Zoo received lots of attention the previous week. Ähtäri Zoo has not been profitable since the Coronavirus pandemic, having accumulated mounting debts. The Finnish Treasury Department proposed a 5 million grant to set up a trust to finance the panda project, which then was declined by the government last Wednesday. The two pandas Lumi and Pyry will likely be returned to China; the final decision on whether to return the pandas will be made on Feb. 28, according to Ähtäri zoo.

The Giant panda question shed light on the state of Finnish nature conservation. The nature conservation budget faced significant cuts last year; the government uses far less than the proposed sum for the zoo to protect endangered Finnish species, such as Saimaa ringed seal or Arctic fox. The WWF lead conservation expert has also questioned whether keeping Giant pandas in a Finnish zoo can even be considered conserving the species because it is unlikely that zoo-raised Giant pandas could be successfully released in nature.

Giant Pandas, among other endangered large mammals with likeable features, have become symbols of nature conservation. Arguably this has also been among the reasons for Ähtäri Zoo to acquire the Giant Pandas in the first place before anyone could predict the pandemic. In addition to being adorable crowd-pullers, the Pandas also represent China's soft power initiatives that are taking place in different parts of the world; the overall case with the Ähtäri Giant pandas seems unfortunate at the moment. On a positive note, it has given attention to protecting domestic nature and reflected our overall relationship with endangered species in different contexts.

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

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

HS | Investments in green transition caught up with fossil fuels for the first time. Green transition investments would still have to triple to meet the zero-emission goal of 2050.

Reuters | Less than half of global cost of climate disasters are insured. Weather events intensified by climate change resulted in a direct economic cost of $360 billion in 2022, with only around 40% covered by insurance providers, according to reinsurance broker Gallagher Re. The costliest climate disasters in 2022 were Hurricane Ian in the US and monsoon floods in Pakistan.

Euronews | Wind and solar produced more electricity than gas in the EU last year. The renewable energies were responsible for a record fifth (22 per cent) of the bloc’s electricity, a new report from clean energy think tank Ember shows.

The Guardian | Study: Emissions divide now greater within countries than between them. The finding is further evidence of the growing divide between the “polluting elite” of rich people around the world, and the relatively low responsibility for emissions among the rest of the population.

Reuters | Tropical storm kills 30 in Madagascar, thousands displaced. Cheneso, which made landfall on Jan. 19, was Madagascar's first tropical storm of the year. The Indian Ocean island nation is typically hit by a series of such storms each year.

Reuters | Indonesian residents file climate case against Holcim in Swiss court. The civil case was first initiated in July last year by four residents of the Indonesian island of Pari, which has been repeatedly flooded as global warming has driven up sea levels. Top cement-maker Holcim was singled out because the company was one of the major carbon dioxide emitters worldwide and the largest so-called "carbon major" in Switzerland.

HS | Swedish activists arrived in Lapland - environmentalists put another halt to logging in Aalistunturi. Nature conservationists say logging undermines a natural park initiative planned in the area and demand logging to discontinue while the conservation proposal is pending. According to Forestry Ltd, valuable natural habitats reside outside their logging plan.

HS | Green transition in the Finnish industry will require € 10 bln investments in the upcoming years. A recent report found that the forest and steel industries have already succeeded in reducing emissions, helping Finland meet its 2035 carbon neutrality target. Reducing emissions in the chemical and steel industries will require approximately € 6 bln.

Yle | Environmental organizations protest Forestry Ltd logging in a valuable natural habitat in the Uusimaa region. 

YM | Ministry of the Environment published a new handbook on voluntary climate acts: clarification on how companies should communicate about purchased carbon offsets.

STT | Syke report calculated emissions from consumption in all Finnish municipalities and regions. The report shows that cities produce less food consumption-related emissions than rural municipalities.

HS | Two-thirds of Finnish people oppose EU regulation on domestic forestry.

Reuters | Germany pledges funds to help Brazil defend Amazon rainforest. A 200 M€ pledge aims to help Brazil defend the Amazon rainforest, a global ecosystem devastated during years of rule under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Bloomberg | India to Invest $4.3 Billion for Energy Transition and Security. The country aims for net zero emissions by 2070.

Reuters | EU green plan aims to rival US climate law and repel deindustrialization fears. The EU stimulus package is partly a reaction to the US government's $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) containing billions of dollars in tax credits for clean energy and low-carbon technologies. Many EU leaders are concerned that the US's IRA will encourage companies to relocate, making the United States a leader in green tech at Europe's expense.

STT | Norsepower receives a 10 M€ grant from Climate fund to reduce emissions in shipping.

STT | Varma pension insurance company chosen among the most sustainable companies – EcoVadis ranking.

Luke | New EU project CircHive will help businesses and communities recognize, measure and report on the value of nature.

UK substantially underestimates its methane emissions from oil and gas production – and many other countries probably do too. Scientists develop a newer, more accurate method for calculating methane emissions from offshore oil and gas production that suggests the United Kingdom severely underestimates its greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers conclude that as much as five times more methane is being leaked from oil and gas production than reported. (Science Daily)

Rapid plant evolution may make coastal regions more susceptible to flooding and sea level rise. Evolution has occurred more rapidly than previously thought in the Chesapeake Bay wetlands, which may decrease the chance that coastal marshes can withstand future sea level rise, researchers at the University of Notre Dame and collaborators demonstrated in a recent publication in Science. (Science Daily)

Sharing the burden of carbon dioxide removal. Carbon dioxide removal is key to meeting the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. A new study by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis analyzes what fair and equitable burden-sharing means for nature-based carbon dioxide removal in developing countries. (Science Daily)

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Picture of the week:

 International Energy Agency's models energy transition in 2021–2050