Paper pulp professor dismisses greenhouse gas emissions trade as unnecessary madness

Johan Gullichsen says people do not cause climate change

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By Jyrki Iivonen
     
      People think that they control nature, but that is an illusion, ponders farmer and forest owner Johan Gullichsen, 69, in the light of his fireplace in the drawing room of his manor house in Somero.
      "Mankind imagines that the world is warming because of his activity, and he thinks that he can tame the greenhouse effect", Gullichsen says.
      In his view, people have nothing to do with climate change, which has always taken place at its own pace. "There are many complicated phenomena in nature that we neither understand, nor control."
      This misconception has considerable economic consequences. A climate treaty was drawn up in the United Nations, but Europe is the only place where the emissions trade system linked with it is implemented.
     
In emissions trade, companies were given quotas for emissions of carbon dioxide that they were allowed to let into the sky. If a company exceeds its quota, it is required to buy emission rights from those that fall below it.
      So far the system has led to a sharp rise in the price of electricity.
      As Gullichsen sees it, the emissions trade system rests on the principle of political caution.
      "Because the possibility that people have something to do with the greenhouse effect cannot be ruled out, something is done - just in case. A mechanism has been created out of this kind of thinking that turns the economy in a very strange, unhealthy direction."
      "The idea is based on human vanity. We think that we can influence natural phenomena through political decisions."
     
The wind power plants in Central Europe are, in the view of Gullichsen, a good example of the crazy direction of things. "It is an awful development, because alongside every kilowatt produced by wind, it is necessary to build an equivalent amount of reserve energy. When it is very cold, there is no wind."
      "I should not have said what I just said: after all, I am the chairman of the board of Ahlstrom. The structures of windmill blades are good business for us."
      Gullichsen gives environmental organisations credit for giving political decision-makers some real stimulus. "I am in favour of renewable energy, but the way of going about it is wrong."
      "Environmental organisations should not be allowed to build massive economic systems. We make populist decisions, which we will regret in ten or twenty years."
      Gullichsen feels that trade in emissions cause "surprisingly bad distortions" for the forest industry.
      Because of trade in emissions, power companies can afford to pay more for timber than forest companies do. Good raw material is burned, even though it could first be used for the production of paper and paperboard.
      "And at the same time, millions of tonnes of paper are dumped at landfills around the world, which could even be used as fuel", Gullichsen says.
     
As a renewable source of energy, wood is exempted from the burden of emissions trade. When an energy company replaces coal with wood, for instance, it gets an "extra" dividend by selling its emission entitlement to others who need it.
      The first endangered type of wood is birch fibre, which contains large amounts of energy.
      The last into the furnace is spruce fibre, which gets the best price from the paper industry. For forest owners it makes no difference if the wood is bought by a pulp manufacturer, or a local energy producer.
      The price of wood and energy can tip over the thinking of the pulp industry, as a modern plant is capable of producing more energy than it needs itself. Electricity could become the main product, and wood pulp may prove to be a byproduct.
      "If the prices of oil and electricity continue to rise, that is what will happen. In Sweden, they are already talking about a ‘power and fibre industry'."
      In Gullichsen's opinion, the paper industry could do much to improve the way it produces energy.
      "The systems used by paper factories are not especially efficient. It would be possible to squeeze many more kilowatts from them without increasing the consumption of raw materials, but this is a rather conservative industry."
      Because of emissions trade, forest companies have started to pick branches and tree crowns out of forests. "That is a dangerous way to grow, because forests need humus for future growth."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 5.6.2006

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 No grain or reed canarygrass in Gullichsen's furnace

JYRKI IIVONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jyrki.iivonen@hs.fi