GHG emissions of Finland's municipalities down 8.7 pct in 2020: report

Helsinki [Finland], May 6: The total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Finland's municipalities decreased by 8.7 percent year-on-year in 2020, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) said in a report published on Thursday.
Emissions decreased in almost all of the country's municipalities between 2005 and 2020 by an average 24.7 percent.
"The final results confirm that the emissions development was positive in 2020," said SanttuKarhinen, senior research scientist at SYKE, in the press release.
He told Kuntalehti, a magazine covering Finland's municipalities, that 2020 was an exceptional year because the COVID-19-related restrictions and measures reduced road traffic, among other things.
In 2020, the main sources of emissions were road transport (27 percent), agriculture (21 percent), district heating (14 percent) and electricity consumption (heating and other consumer electricity totaling 11 percent).
"Road transport and agriculture are challenging sectors, and there is a lot of discussion about how to reduce their emissions," Karhinen said.
In 2020, the largest drop - 35 percent -- in emissions was registered from electricity use. "Emissions from electricity usage fell due to the switch from fossil fuels to wind power and decreased electricity consumption as a result of the warm year," the SYKE said.
Karhinen noted that despite the promising trend, much remains to be done. "The screw still needs to be tightened even if emissions are reduced. The national targets are truly ambitious. Regions and municipalities also have their own goals, which are really challenging to achieve.
"Municipalities have an activating role. They can encourage local entrepreneurs to take the necessary action," Karhinen said.
According to Finland's Ministry of the Environment, municipalities and local governments have a key role to play as the country aims to be carbon neutral by 2035. More than 60 percent of Finns live in municipalities that aim to be carbon neutral already by 2030.
SYKE is a multidisciplinary research and expert institute. It calculates the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Finland's 309 municipalities.
Source: Xinhua