Mainpage 4/2007

Energy & Enviro Finland

Mainpage 4/2007, 19 December 2007

EDITORIAL: BALI OPENS NEW ERA

By Professor Ilkka Savolainen

After tough negotiations the U.N. climate conference adopted a roadmap to negotiate a new global warming pact by 2009. The "Bali Roadmap" includes a clear agenda for the key issues to be negotiated during the next two years and for the new global climate agreement to be accepted in the U.N. climate conference in 2009 in Copenhagen. The new agreement can enter into force by 2013, following the expiry of the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol. The deal should consist of action for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ways to deploy widely clean technologies, and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures.
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Is climate change good or bad for Finland?

Climate change has, in a matter of two years, changed from something only specialist atmosphere experts would be concerned about, into a topic on the daily agenda for politicians and economists. The reality of climate change and the anticipated social and economic repercussions have now been acknowledged like they never were before. The financial losses following natural catastrophies caused by weather were ten-fold during the past decade as a result of climate change, the vulnerability of communities to weather variation, and the habitation of areas that are not favourable in light of the weather conditions, says Professor Petteri Taalas, Director General, Finnish Meteorological Institute, in his article.
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Intelligent transport aims to respond to climate change

ITS Finland, a cooperation network of Finnish actors, has produced a development strategy for intelligent transport for 2007 - 2011. The strategy presents the network’s common vision and goals, especially to mitigate climate change, which should be achieved in the coming years. The vision is, that with intelligent transport systems and services the traffic is managed and its demand is restricted as well as the distribution of transport modes is changed in order to limit the climate change and to improve the transport system. To guarantee safety and fluency, the traffic is monitored, managed and controlled, and real-time traffic data is collected and traffic information services offered to all.
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Combustion of waste may reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Landfills are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, mostly because of methane. Compared with carbon dioxide, methane is a twenty times stronger greenhouse gas, and landfills originate 4 % of the anthropogenic emissions. A joint research project of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Finnish Environment Institute has proved that development of waste management is a cost-efficient mean to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. Considerable reductions can be achieved by combustion of waste and by collecting methane from landfills. The collected methane can either be used directly in energy production or flared off, i.e. eliminated through combustion without energy production.
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Baltic Sea area to get reduction targets for nutrient discharges

The Ministers of the Environment and Senior Government Officials of the Member States of HELCOM, an international organization for the protection of the Baltic marine environment, at its meeting today in Krakow, Poland, adopted an ambitious overarching action plan to drastically reduce pollution to the Baltic Sea and restore its good ecological status by 2021. The agreement on the set of actions was approved by representatives of Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the European Community, which is also a HELCOM Member.
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REACH'S CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

REACH regulation - a challenge for the chemical industry

The REACH is the EU's new Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. REACH aims at achieving a higher level of health and environmental protection and promoting the free movement of chemicals in the EU, as well as enhancing the long-term competitiveness of the EU chemical industry and innovations inside the EU. The implementation of the REACH regulatory framework is now under way at EU, national, and corporate level. The new regulations pose a number of challenges to companies producing chemicals in the EU, as well as those importing or using them. The Finnish chemical industry aims to respond to these challenges by drawing on the expertise that has been developed through years of investments in health, safety and environment work, according to Aimo Kastinen, Director, Chemical Industry Federation of Finland.
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Implementation of REACH calls cooperation between trade partners

REACH is an EU solution to the problem of chemical safety but it also concerns importers within the EU Community and importing chemicals or articles into the EU area. To respod to this challenge calls close cooperation between the EU and non-EU countries, especially with Russia - a big chemical trade partner for Finland and the entire EU. There is reason to believe that imports from Russia to Finland and perhaps to other EU countries might be about to diversify. Thus, the cooperation in proper implementation and information exchange on REACH system are still more important for continuing chemical trade in the European area as well as globally, according to Hannu Vornamo, General Director, Chemical Industry Federation of Finland.
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Larger companies set up REACH expert teams

Larger companies in Finland have set up special REACH teams to ensure that their organisations will be REACH compliant. At the beginning of 2006, for example, the Kemira Group established a REACH Competence Center (REACH CC) at its Espoo Research Center. According to REACH CC Manager Liisa Rapeli-Likitalo, the Center’s main task is to handle the centralised registration and authorisation procedures for all the substances produced or imported by the company within the EU. Kemira aims to register about 200 substances, but the number of substances that will be preregistered is higher in order to ensure the availability and use of critical raw materials.
Our job is to help our businesses to interpret REACH and develop tools for compliance. Business units make the final decisions on which substances need to be preregistered and registered.
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REACH opens new possibilities to boost European competitiveness

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has highlighted the possibilities that are raised by the European new chemical legislation REACH. The VTT's report encourages to respond to the research challenges which the REACH is going to open. The results and created knowledge can form a solid basis for future business activity and to improve competitiveness. The success, however, depends on the activity of European actors, according to Antero Laitinen VTT's report describes the opportunities which can be opened by REACH
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TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

Biorefinery concepts provide added value to existing biomass-based value chains

Biomasses are expected to generate new chemicals, materials and transport fuels in the future. Business opportunities are most likely to emerge through wide-range cooperation between academic groups and industries of different backgrounds. Bridges designed to bring about such cooperation are currently being built e.g. between companies from the forest, chemical and energy sectors. Having begun last year and continuing until the end of 2010, the scope of VTT's Biorefinery research programme ranges from forest and agricultural biomasses to industrial side streams and municipal wastes. We aim at developing technologies and products that can be applied and produced in a financially and environmentally sustainable manner, while at the same time keeping a keen eye on the needs of the industry, says Dr. Niklas von Weymarn, who heads the research programme at VTT.
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