Shell and Exxon hit by separate campaigns on the same day. See our blog for more.
Finland’s Sustainable Growth Program was announced today. It aims to accelerate Finland's green transition by a total of more than €1 billion, and with its leverage effect, it is estimated that it will mobilize up to €4 billion for climate work. Finland will direct half of all funding channeled through the recovery instrument to the green transition. The investments are estimated to reduce emissions by at least 3 Mt p.a. from 2026, corresponding to about 6% of Finland's emissions. The goal is to make Finland a global leader in the field of hydrogen and circular economy, high value-added bioproducts and emission-free energy systems and other climate and environmental solutions, improve energy efficiency and accelerate the transition to fossil-free transport and heating.
Finland’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Krista Mikkonen said, “The sustainable growth program is the largest climate investment in Finland's history and also sets an example for future economic solutions. The signal to the various players is clear: now is the time to invest in a sustainable future. With the funding, we will accelerate progress towards a carbon-neutral Finland and at the same time lift Finland to its feet from the corona crisis. An important principle for the entire recovery package is that no recovery action must hinder the achievement of climate and nature goals.” (press release)
As we reported last week, Norway’s government has already said that it would be sticking with oil exploration, arguing that its oil was cleaner than others. Now other power players are falling in behind a similar line. LO (the union movement) and NHO (The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise) have clubbed together to try to define power and industrial policy. The two institutional actors want continued oil exploration, with a green tinge, by electrifying the oil industry with renewable power from land until 2030.
A separate report from Statistics Norway shows the importance of the oil industry to Norway’s economy. The companies on the Norwegian shelf expect investments of NOK 181.9 billion in 2021 - almost 5% higher than in the previous census and more than 2020 investments of NOK 179 billion. This is a positive sign for the Norwegian economy, and may allow for earlier interest rate hikes than would otherwise have been the case, DNB and Nordea point out. However, not all stakeholders are happy, the Socialist Left Party argues that Norway’s pandemic crisis package is risking investments in assets that will soon have no use. (DN, E24)
Vattenfall receives SEK 3.5 billion with its first green hybrid bonds. The financial instrument has a maturity of more than 60 years, and is therefore partly counted as equity on the balance sheet. But, by also being classified as green, the power company can now reduce the financing cost for its future giant investments in, among other things, wind power and fossil-free steel. (Dagens industri)
The Nordic countries are some of the most dynamic and successful economies in the world. They are also leaders in sustainability, from renewable energy, biofuels, carbon capture and storage and the hydrogen economy, circular economy business models and battery development, the Nordics are pioneers in policy design, technology development and consumer uptake. Mundus Nordic Green News is covering this transition for the international community. Every day we clip the stories of most relevance to international businesspeople and policy experts from the flow of news. We supplement these with our own opinion pieces and commentary, in English.