Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre Party) says that preparations for a climate and energy package for the European Union has progressed well from Finland’s point of view.
“Many questions that are important for us have gone in the right direction”, said Pekkarinen, who attended a meeting of the EU ministers of energy in Brussels.
The pulp and paper industry will most likely fall into the group of industrial sectors entitled to free emission rights.
The reason is that the EU countries plan to distribute emission rights quite generously. Well over half of EU industry will be included in the free initial allocation of rights.
Pekkarinen emphasises that this will not jeopardise the goals of the climate and energy package; he says that no member states have questioned the goal of cutting emissions.
In the question of renewable forms of energy, Finland is succeeding in pushing through a force majeure clause.
Now about 70 per cent of renewable energy currently in use in Finland stems from the utilisation of by-products of the forest industry. If forest industry output declines, the proportion of renewable energy is also set to go down.
The force majeure clause guarantees that Finland will not be punished for falling short of the targets for renewable energy, if production in the forest industry takes a dip for reasons that are out of Finland’s control.
One such reason could be an interruption in wood imports stemming from Russian wood tariffs.
Pekkarinen says that important issues remaining open for Finland are heat pumps, and the reference years that form the basis of the emission rights for each country.
The prime ministers of the EU countries are to decide on the climate and energy package at their summit on Thursday and Friday. After that, the package will be voted on by the European Parliament.
