How Does Finland Compare? Challenges and opportunities for Finland Per Mickwitz, Research Director, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) Member of the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency The State of the European Environment – How does Finland compare? Thursday at Ministry of the Environment

●Comparative studies provide good opportunities for learning, ○one should approach the SOER country comparisons as a learning possibility instead of trying to argue why there are some problems with the indicators ●Finland is part of Europe ○the main message of the SOER is as true for Finland as for Europe in large ○in other words similarities are more important than differences, especially when we look ahead to ●Finland has many strengths with respect to the main challenge and there are some promising policy approaches 2 Main points

3 Population density in Finland is low and Finland is less urbanised than most European countries Impacts & Opportunities

4 Finland has a large share of Europe's forests: economic significance and responsibility SOER figure: Conservation status of forest habitat types by region

COUNTRY COMPARISONS GLOBAL MEGATRENDS EUROPEAN BRIEFINGS COUNTRIES & REGIONS SYNTHESIS REPORT Related content SOER2015 / Cross-country comparisons/ Material resource use (DMC) per capita in 32 European countries (2000, 2007 and 2012) Resource efficiency – material resource efficient and productivity Data sources: Eurostat. Material Flow Accounts Note: A time series was available for 32 countries, but for four countries the full time series was not available: 2000 not available for Serbia so 2001 data are shown; latest data year for Norway was 2008; 2012 data not available for Switzerland and Turkey so 2011 data shown. EU-27 Roads & Mines

COUNTRY COMPARISONS GLOBAL MEGATRENDS EUROPEAN BRIEFINGS COUNTRIES & REGIONS SYNTHESIS REPORT Related content SOER2015 / Cross-country comparisons/ Percentage share of renewable energies in gross inland energy consumption in 34 European countries Energy - energy consumption and share of renewable energy Data sources: Eurostat. Gross inland energy consumption, by fuel; EEA – Indicator ENER029 the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia The share of renewable energy in Finland is high

Change in the total demand for energy in Finland Energy consumption in Finland : + 11 % (1,0 %/year) Energy consumption in Finland : - 8,4 % (-1,7 %/year) Energy consumption in Finland : % (6,1 %/year) Updated from Statistics Finland based on an original slide by Raimo Lovio

Total energy consumption by energy source (%) 8 Source: Statistics Finland

Two new energy sources 9 Source: Statistics Finland Towards a distributed energy system based on multiple renewable sources 1,2 % 0,2 %

10 Finland is part of Europe: the main message of the SOER is as true for Finland as for Europe in large

●The policies in place are delivering results, many of the 2020 targets will be achieved ●The long-term aim “to ensure that ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’” will not be achieved with just current policies 11 Finland is part of Europe: the main message of the SOER is as true for Finland as for Europe in large

●Neither environmental policies, nor economic and technology- driven efficiency gains are likely to be sufficient. ●“living well within ecological limits will require fundamental transitions in the systems of production and consumption that are the root cause of environmental and climate pressures." (page 14) 12 Finland is part of Europe: the main message of the SOER is as true for Finland as for Europe in large

Fundamental transitions of production and consumption The use of natural resources is increasing Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing The amount of waste and emissions are increasing

Little Safeguarding Little Fundamental transitions of production and consumption

A transition to a carbon neutral circular economy: an environmental necessity & an economic opportunity

COUNTRY COMPARISONS GLOBAL MEGATRENDS EUROPEAN BRIEFINGS COUNTRIES & REGIONS SYNTHESIS REPORT Source: EEA. Reducing environmental pressures or offsetting harmful effects Enabling factor: joined-up policy and knowledge responses

Vision: HINKU municipalities 17 In the beginning municipalities inhabitants Currently municipalities inhabitants HINKU municipalities act as forerunners by working to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions ahead of EU schedule (-80% by 2030)

●Finland has a fantastic opportunity to be a leader in this development because of: ○the cooperation we have, and ○the easiness of making contacts, of communicating and of collaborating across sectors, between researchers and the administration and between researchers and business. ●Interesting emphasis on co-production: ○The Forum for Environmental Information ○Future Earth Finland ○The Strategic Research Council ○The Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities 18 Knowledge: Co-production of knowledge in practice

Innovation: the mechanisms of path creation Lovio, Mickwitz & Heiskanen 2011, 284 ST1 Piggybaggy Neste, UPM, Stora- Enso Open homes Minimum share of biofuels

‘Part of the problem is that “the problem” has been framed so often as a global issue that local politicians and citizens sometimes cannot see that there are things that can be done at a local level that are important steps in the right direction’. Elinor Ostrom  “A polycentric approach” ‘Governments should make markets, not just fix them.’ Mariana Mazzucato  “The entripreneurial state” 20 Governance: 2 final quotes