State-run energy company VAPO’s advertising campaign for peat faces stiff criticism from environmentalists

VTT Research Professor considers government’s peat policy contradictory

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VAPO, the state-run supplier of local and renewable fuels, bioelectricity and bioheat, is currently under heavy criticism because of its peat production advertising campaign.
     
According to critics, the company tries to advocate the use of tax revenue to promote its peat production by presenting misleading and unscientific information about the "renewability" of peat, thereby giving it "sustainable energy" qualities it may not deserve.
      The debate on the subject was initiated by Chairman Risto Sulkava of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) with his column in the Sunday edition of Helsingin Sanomat.
      A total of 50.1% of the VAPO shares are owned by the Finnish State.
     
In its television and Internet advertising campaign VAPO markets peat as a Finnish national treasure. According to the company, each year Finland’s marshlands produce twice as much peat as is currently being utilised. In other words, the production of peat fulfils the requirements of sustainable development.
      In the view of the critics, however, the advertising places peat in an unrealistically favourable light by painting a picture of it as a renewable natural resource.
      “It is irresponsible that a state-run business communicates misleading information. Officially Finland reports annually of significant emissions resulting from the disappearance of peat”, Sulkava says.
     
Research Professor Ilkka Savolainen of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) also considers VAPO’s advertising campaign problematic: according to Statistics Finland figures the amount of carbon contained by the peat in Finland’s marshlands is being reduced by six million tonnes per year.
      The marshlands that are still in their natural state - around 40 per cent of all marshland - manage to absorb not more than a third of this amount a year.
      For this reason, because of the peat production, instead of being carbon sinks Finland’s marshlands are a source of carbon emissions.
      In other words, their impact on the climate is negative, Savolainen continues.
      “The peat companies, of course, have plenty of detailed information to choose from to disseminate only the information that sounds positive. Everybody is eager to believe that there is no harm in using peat, simply because its usage is cost-effective for Finland”, Savolainen reckons.
     
Nevertheless, burning peat in energy production results in greater carbon dioxide emissions per produced energy unit than from burning coal.
      According to the VTT calculations, peat and coal also belong to the same emissions category when examining the entire life-span of the energy forms.
      Sulkava stresses that efforts should be put in place for the gradual dumping of peat as an energy source.
      Furthermore, peat should be reinstated as a taxable energy source, he argues.
      The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation calculates that at the moment the use of peat is sponsored by EUR 100 million per year when all the tax reliefs are included.
      The OECD, too, recently suggested the abandoning of tax concessions for the use of peat.
     
In the political arena, the position of peat in energy production has been a cause of debate for some time.
      Its benefits have included the reduced need for energy imports and the jobs that are created in outlying districts of Finland, where unemployment pressures are often at their greatest.
      The Finnish government’s official policy is to promote the use of peat within the EU as a slowly renewable energy form.
      Finland also aims to promote the use of peat as raw material for traffic fuels.
      Savolainen from VTT considers the government’s aims problematic.
      “They are in contradiction with the climate objectives and ultimately only add to the total cost of cutting down the emissions.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  International Energy Agency criticises Finnish peat subsidies (27.3.2008)

See also:
  Rainy summers evaporate Finnish peat reserves (11.9.2008)
  Vapo to manufacture bio diesel raw material from peat (12.12.2007)

Links:
  VAPO
  Peat in Finland (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat