Renewable energy in Finland

Ecological thinking has grown steadily in Finland since the 1980’s, and today one could say that Finland is one of the few countries to have developed strong environmental awareness on all levels of society. Finland actively supports international environmental agreements, organisations, eco-friendly living is fairly widespread, and the number of companies marketing the ecological aspects of their products has increased considerably..

Finland launched a very unique eco programme in 2005, which focuses not only on the promotion of sustainable development, but also on promoting sustainable production and consumption. The programme stems from the belief that eco-efficiency should also be extended to production chains and consumers, instead of being restricted to development programmes and energy usage. Targets for renewable energy usage have also been set, and by 2020 Finland plans to produce 38% of its energy with renewable energy sources.

So far, Finland is already doing well. They are currently one of the leading users of renewable energy sources, meeting one quarter of total energy consumption with renewables. Finlands natural resources already fuel the renewable energy sector, and an increase in the production of wood-based energy, waste fuels, and biogas is sure to push Finland towards its 38% goal.

Finland is also a world leader in paper recycling, and recycling in general is given a lot more attention than in most other european cities. The majority of Finnish households have separate bins for paper and biowaste, and waste is either collected by a municipal waste company, or is taken to an “eco-centre”(waste collection centre) by the homeowners themselves. There are, of course, drawbacks to this system: transporting waste to recycling centers is sometimes problematic due to long distances, the effectiveness of collection facilities varies, and collection points are often few and far away.

Even so, significant progress has been made in Finnish recycling policy and achievements. And the implementation of eco-centres in all municipalities has brought the recycling rate of household waste up to just over 50%. This figure could be better, but it seems they are on it, and have proved that they aren’t the type of nation that starts something they cannot… Finnish!