According to a report published on 8 March by the EU forests and people’s rights NGO, Fern, Finland is attempting to conceal its CO2 emissions from its forests, which is threatening both the climate and the Sami people.
Although the Finnish government confirmed its intention last year to increase harvesting of the country’s forests by nearly 25% from present levels by the year 2030 and is proud that it will be able to be carbon neutral by 2045, thanks to CO2 absorption by its woodlands, this report, Arctic Limits: How Finland’s Forest Policies Threaten the Sami and the Climate, repaints this rosy picture in a distinctly more greyish hue (see EUROPE 11733).
The report demonstrates that according to the impact assessment carried out by Finland of its own Energy/Climate Strategy, the carbon dioxide released from logging is set to be so vast that the country’s overall carbon emissions would remain at current levels or even increase, despite Finland cutting its use of fossil fuels.
At the very time that parliamentary work is being stepped up on the new regulation on emissions from the forests and land use sector, known as LULUCF, Fern is concerned that Finland is currently leading a group of countries that is trying to change the European Commission’s proposed package of rules proposed in 2015 on the contribution of non-ETS sectors to the EU’s climate targets (see EUROPE 11647, 11598), “To avoid accounting for its extra forest emissions”.
Hannah Mowat, speaking on behalf of Fern in a press release, explained that, “Fern has serious concerns that key members of the European Parliament and Member States such as Finland and Austria are doing their utmost to weaken the Commission’s proposal, which itself is already not ambitious enough”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)