Minister Pekkarinen claims climate goals unreachable by EU alone

Finland would require 6 million MWh of additional bioenergy, windpower, and hydro capacity

Mauri Pekkarinen

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The Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre Party) has come out strongly on the global warming issue, declaring that the European Union’s targets of limiting the rise in temperature to 2°C cannot be achieved through the Union’s efforts alone.
      Speaking in Helsinki on Thursday at a gathering in connection with plans for a new climate and energy strategy, Pekkarinen observed that the EU, which accounts for 15% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions, is impotent by itself, unless others join in.
      He commented that the Union’s current goal of lifting the share of renewable energy sources to 31.5% of electricity generating capacity was unrealistic at the present rate of progress. It would require of Finland an increase in excess of 6 terawatt-hours or 6 million MWh in the electricity generated via bioenergy, wind power, and hydropower.
     
On the international front, environmental policy decision-makers have already begun consideration of the targets for limiting emissions after 2012.
      Pekkarinen argues that Finland must play a very pro-active role in the EU in order to ensure that the entire global community can be brought on board to achieve the goals.
      "Limiting the increase in temperature to 2°C is an extremely ambitious target, and one that would require that the major sources of emissions, such as the United States, Russia, India, China, and for instance Korea, are all taking part in more than just spirit. The political realities do not at present look particularly bright on this score", said Pekkarinen.
      The Minister also said that Finland was being overly chivalrous in its shouldering of the Kyoto Protocol burden. He expressed the hope that future agreement models would better recognise the special conditions facing Finland, for example the cold climate, long distances, and the heavy consumption of energy required by some of its primary industries.
     
"The sharing of the Kyoto burden among countries should be fair to Finland, both at the UN level and within the European Union", argued Pekkarinen, and he went on to criticise the present EU proposals for emission rights that would be pegged to population numbers.
      He further stressed that an energy-intensive industrial base such as ours could not survive in Finnish conditions against unreasonable demands.
      "Finland needs energy and for the time being it looks as if we will also need more energy. This is a fact that cannot be ignored", Pekkarinen emphasised. Hence any climate strategy must in his view be linked to national energy policy and energy-economic requirements.


Links:
  Ministry of Trade and Industry: Energy

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