Page 41 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2018 publication

Spring 2018 European Energy Innovation
Finland is well on its way towards
carbon neutrality
By Henna Virkkunen, MEP, Finland
Negotiations regarding the
EU’s clean energy package
are at their final stages. investment came to fruition near my
The package sets goals for home when a new kind of bio product
the year 2030 to meet the demands
of the Paris climate agreement. These
demands include increased self-
sufficiency and share of renewable
energy, considerable reduction of
emissions and increased efficiency,
transparency and marked-basedness
in the energy market.
For my country Finland, these goals
are a good fit. Finland has long been
building a joint energy market and
interconnectors together with other
Nordic countries, and we have been
purposefully increasing the share of
low-emission energy sources.
In fact, the strength of Finland’s energy
policy lies in its relatively versatile
energy palette. The country is not
dependent on any single energy
source or supplier. Furthermore, the
share of fossil energy sources: coal,
oil and natural gas has already been
squeezed down to under 40 percent.
Finland is the most forested nation
in Europe. This gives Finland one
of the highest shares of renewable
energy among European countries.
Over 39 percent of our energy is
already renewable and wood is our
most significant energy source. This is
made possible by the Finnish forestry
industry, which has made sure that its
side streams, scraps and waste can be
cleverly turned into energy.
Even though Finnish industries are very
energy-intensive, thanks to modern
technology, the energy efficiency of
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FINLAND ENERGY
factories has increased tremendously. Photo: Mikko Mäntyniemi
Recently, Europe’s largest forestry
maintains a share of imported energy
that exceeds half of its total energy
plant became operational. The plant consumption. Electricity produced
produces 2.5 times as much energy using nuclear power has been an
as it spends and the plant alone raises important energy source for Finland’s
Finland’s share of renewably energy by energy-intensive industries, and it
a whopping 2 percentage points. is classified as imported energy.
In Finland, 18 percent of energy is
Currently the discussion on the EU produced via nuclear means. This
level focuses on whether the goal for share is unlikely to be reduced as
the share of renewable energy should Finland aims to replace imported
be 27 or 35 percent by 2030. Finland electricity with domestic nuclear
has already exceeded these numbers power. One new nuclear power plant
and we have decided to strive towards is currently under construction and
a 50 percent share of renewable another one is in the planning stages.
energy by 2030.
In the future, Finland’s energy
While emissions have been reduced production will rely even more
from their 1990 levels in all other heavily on low-emission energy
sectors across the EU, they have sources, where renewable biomass,
increased in traffic. Finland is one nuclear power and hydro, solar and
of only a few EU countries that now wind energy are the most important
produces less road traffic emissions elements. l
than in the year 1990. This is primarily
achieved with large-scale investments
into renewable fuels.
In Finland the share of biofuels is
already at 22 percent, which is three
times the European average. Finland
has set a national goal of increasing
the share of renewable fuels in road
traffic to 30 percent and adding
significantly to the number of
electric cars.
Even though progress towards all
other European energy goals seems
to be underway, the dependence
on energy imports is one challenge
Europe has been unable to tackle.
This also applies to Finland. As is true
for the entire EU region, Finland still