Finland falls behind many other countries on climate issues
Electricity consumption grows - Sweden's is nearly unchanged
Finland has fallen far behind the other Nordic Countries in cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.
Finland ranks 36th on the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), putting it on a par with Algeria and Belarus. Sweden is at the top of the list, and Denmark is in third place.
"Finland has settled for a place in the back row", says Professor Jyri Seppälä of the Finnish Environment Indstitute.
"Sweden and Norway have set tougher emission targets for themselves than are required by the EU and the Kyoto protocol. Finland's starting point is that the national interest requires as small reduction targets as possible", says MP Oras Tynkkynen (Green), the climate policy expert of the Finnish government.
Finland is dragging behind Sweden in areas such as saving energy, the implementation of methods of heating which reduce climate change, and the reduction of traffic volume.
"Temperatures inside residential buildings in the winter are the highest in Europe, even though the outside temperature is Europe's lowest", Jyri Seppälä says.
Half of household energy consumption is heating. Most homes are heated by electricity and oil.
There is little economic support for more environmentally friendly options. Because of this, Finland exports about 70 per cent of its wood pellet production - mainly to Sweden.
About 1.5 million tonnes of wood pellets are used for heating in Sweden each year. In Finland the figure is 100,000.
"This is stupid. We export renewable energy and import oil to replace it", says Reine Piippo, Executive Director of the Finnish Pellet Energy Association.
Piippo and Tynkkynen blame taxation.
"In Sweden the taxation of light fuel oil has been more than three times the level in Finland. Sweden has had the courage to make decisions on taxation that have not necessarily been popular", Tynkkynen says.
Finland is also increasing the taxation of fuel oil. However, even after the increase, the tax will be lower than it is in Sweden.
Sweden has also been more open-handed in supporting other environmentally-friendly heating methods.
"In Sweden the state supports the acquisition of heat pumps with investment subsidies", notes Jyri Seppälä, adding that the popularity of heat pumps has increased considerably. "It is possible to get a 30 per cent subsidy for setting up a pellet heating system for a new house. If electric hating is exchanged for district heating, the support is the same", he continues.
The subsidies are smaller in Finland. If an old house is connected to district, or regional heating, the state pays a ten per cent investment bonus. If a house converts to a heat pump system, or to pellet or wood heating, up to 15 per cent in subsidies is available.
Tynkkynen sees electricity consumption as Finland's biggest climate policy problem.
"In Sweden electricity consumption has remained stable for more than ten years, even though the economy and the population have grown as fast as in Finland. In Finland, electricity consumption has grown at the same pace as the economy has", Tynkkynen observes.
For energy consumption to come under control, Finland should increase the energy efficiency of its buildings. "Twenty years ago Finland had the toughest energy norms in the world. Now we are clearly behind the other Nordic Countries", Tynkkynen laments.
Tynkkynen and Seppälä feel that one reason for the "environment recession" is the myth that everything that is necessary has already been done. "We need to do things more and better. Politicians need to encourage people with subsidies, fees, and taxes", Seppälä says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 2.10.2007 - TODAY |
 Finland falls behind many other countries on climate issues |
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