25 October 2021

The Green League party lobbies for nuclear power in Finland

The Green League, Finland’s environmental party, wants the EU to class nuclear power as a sustainable alternative in the climate transition. This comes amid an expansion of Finnish nuclear power, where a third reactor is planned at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant next year - making it Finland’s fifth reactor. Maria Ohisalo, party leader of the Green League, claims that nuclear power can not be excluded to stop the climate crisis, which conflicts with their Swedish counterpart, Miljöpartiet, which deems nuclear power to be an unsustainable alternative (DI).

New Norwegian government to accelerate climate ambitions 

The new government in Norway, under Johan Gahr Støre (Ap), will send a proposal to revise prioritised areas to the current government’s latest budget in an attempt to accelerate the green transition. The changes to Norway’s climate politics will be seen by voters as soon as this autumn according to Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Climate and the Environment, and Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Trade and Industry (Ap) (Aftenposten).

Perstorp initiative eyes CCU facility

Perstorp, the chemical utilities company, eyes an investment to build a Carbon Capture- and utilization (CCU) facility. Instead of storing captured carbon emitted from their operations, Perstorp wants to use the carbon as a cornerstone for new products in a circular process. By adding hydrogen and biogas from external suppliers, the company is able to produce sustainable methanol that is used as raw material in several chemical products according to Håkan Kihlberg, Vice President Strategic Projects and Processes at Perstorp Group. The investment is expected to total to SEK 2 billion and goes under the “Project Air” initiative, which is a collaboration with Fortum and Uniper (DI). 

CO2 Nordic Hub set to test carbon capture project in Norwegian smelters

CO2 Nordic Hub, the carbon capture project, has received financial support from the Norwegian state enterprise, Gassnova’s CLIMIT-Demo program, to install a mobile carbon capture unit to smelters in Norway - starting with Elkem Rana’s and SMA Mineral’s smelters. Regardless if the captured carbon is to be stored or utilized for the production of new industrial products, carbon capture processes are imperative for reaching emission targets according to Jack Ødegård, Vice President Research at SINTEF Industry. In total, the partners have identified 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 that can be captured from their operations, which amounts to 3% of Norway’s total emissions (Press release). 

What we’re reading

• Fast fashion must be shelved within a decade, says Zalando CEO (Financial Times)

---

---