Finland Times

 

File picture of Minister of the Environment Ville Niinistö, Photo Lehtikuva

After decades of experience in cleaning waters, air and monitoring environmental status, Finland has developed a competitive edge in clean technology, whereas the expanding global environmental market has given the Nordic country a momentum for green growth.

     

"There is no contradiction between environmental concern and economic profit," stated Finnish Minister of Environment Ville Niinisto in a recent interview with Xinhua.

     

According to Niinisto, who is also the party leader of the Finnish Green League, Finns are creating a new green economy where business is moving from emission reduction to solving environmental problems.

     

"We have no choice. This is very visible in many large cities that have a lot of environmental problems that hinder growth. Especially in China, where regardless of the GDP of over 7 percent in the past few years, environmental problems are great," he added.

     

A high-profile green growth summit took place in this capital city last Wednesday, gathering together 600 experts on clean technology. Notable experts at the summit were unanimous of the fact that scarcity of resources opens up doors for a green economy. In other words, to continue economic growth it has to be made environmentally sound.

     

"The big change in the last few years is that companies and NGOs have come together in climate meetings where they discuss how to cut climate emissions. More and more companies are saying we have a product how to do it. The actual industrial products are good for the environment," Niinisto elaborated.

     

Finland's largest company Neste Oil is a typical example of this.

     

Neste Oil is a 65-year-old refining and marketing company producing mainly transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products.

     

Unlike its biggest competitors in America and China, it is concentrating on low-emission traffic fuels, and it has become the world's leading supplier of renewable diesel to which it has its own patent.

     

Renewable diesel is made out of animal fat, palm oil and used cooking oil, and its development was first started in 1997.

     

In the past three years, Neste Oil has invested 1.5 billion U.S. dollars on renewable diesel oil. During the building period company was losing money, but 2013 was the first year when it became profitable, oil production plants were running and they opened new markets.

     

"For example, in one large American city, all the buses are using our renewal diesel and emissions are 80 percent lower than in normal European and American cars," said Matti Lievonen, the CEO of Neste Oil.

     

Lievonen could not yet reveal the city's name, but he said it is a city with a population of a few million. He considered that such examples could be useful for Chinese cities tackling with problems of air pollution.

     

In Finland, the interviewees believed, markets are not left alone to decide what will prosper. The Finnish government has invested in the research projects on clean technology with a sum of over 200 million euros (275 million U.S. dollars).

     

The Finnish Ministry of Environment is also planning a legislation of climate act. In a 20 to 30 years cycle, regulations are made to support new acts on areas like waste management, city planning and traffic.

     

In this way, said Niinisto, the companies will have a foresight on what kind of regulations they have to answer to.

   

Revenue of clean technology companies is growing in Finland faster than it is globally.

     

"The business activity of clean technology creates in Finland over 40,000 new jobs. Growth of the revenue is significant also because approximately three thirds of the production goes to export in 2020," estimated Kaisu Annala, the strategic leader of Ministry of Employment and the Economy.