Mundus Nordic Green News – 9 October, 2020

Finland breathes sigh of relief over EU Parliament forestry vote

This week, EU parliamentarians voted on the EU's future forestry strategy. Finnish forest operators breathed a sigh of relief when a report prepared by Coalition MEP Petri Sarvamaa, which takes into account not only forest protection but also sustainable forest management and bioeconomy, won the vote on Wednesday night. A majority of MEPs supported Sarvamaa’s strategy, which was adopted by 462 votes to 176, with 59 abstentions. The report not only emphasizes the protection of forests, but also takes into account sustainable forest management, climate, biodiversity and bioeconomy aspects, Sarvamaa said.

 

Swedish industries submit climate roadmaps to the government

Sweden has run a series of industry-led, but government-sponsored initiatives under the banner Fossil Free Sweden. At the end of the process, each industry submits a roadmap outlining how they could contribute to Sweden’s climate objectives. Yesterday, it was the turn of the biogas industry, alongside 8 others. In summary, its report says that the production of biogas can be increased fivefold by 2030 if a functioning support system is in place. 

 

The grocery industry also presented a roadmap showing how the entire industry could achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2045.

 

Gothenburg participates in international cooperation to accelerate the green transition

Gothenburg is part of an initiatives of 21 clusters, cities and regions in seven countries around the North Sea, over a four-year collaboration to find innovative solutions in the energy industry. The project, which has been ongoing since 2016 has just held its final digital conference. The goal has been to strengthen the common innovation force, to accelerate the green transition and to get more companies to participate in innovation collaborations. This in turn gives companies opportunities to attract resources and gain access to a larger market. 

 

Ten trends for the sustainable bioeconomy in Nordic, Arctic and Baltic Sea Region

The Nordic Council published a report highlighting key trends in 14 countries that policy-makers should be aware of in their work on the bioeconomy. Of the ten trends, five are specifically part of the bioeconomy. The other five are overall societal or technological macrotrends that influence the development of the bioeconomy. Notably the report highlighted great potential in biomass, but very divergent views on the role of biofuels.

 

Equinor a notable laggard in preparing for low-carbon future

Carbon Tracker has compared nine of the major oil companies based, among other things, on their expectations of price, to give an indication of how well prepared these are for energy change and stricter climate policy - when potential investments are to be considered. According to the report, European oil companies are clearly better than their American competitors, but Equinor is identified as a notable laggard. As much as 80-90% of Equinor's potential future portfolio is not very robust - or even "financially unwise" - if the world manages to limit global warming.

 

Separately, Equinor Executive Vice President, Irene Rummelhoff told the audience at the Swedbank Energy Summit in Oslo on Thursday that the company can offer customers in the Northern Lights project that it can come and collect CO2 and bury it at a price of between €35-55/tonne.

 

European Commission chooses Lappeenranta as Europe's greenest city

Lappeenranta has been chosen as the greenest city in Europe for 2021 together with Gabrovo, Bulgaria. Lappeenranta competed for the title against other finalists Helsingör, Nyborg and Ringkøbing-Skjern from Denmark and Gabrovo from Bulgaria.

 

Neste informs how cooking oil becomes diesel

Slaughterhouse waste and old cooking oil are waste have high energy content which can be used to produce biofuel, such as Neste MY Renewable Diesel, also called HVO. But how does the process really work? says Neste.

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