The Finnish government announced on Thursday that it has agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14-15 million tonnes, but experts have criticized the measures, which have been declared insufficient.
Marita Laukkanen VATT’s Economic Research Institute told Yle "climate measures lack content", and that "the government is too confident in the desire to electrify transport".
"There is talk of measures, but in reality there are only reports and working groups," said Laukkanen. "We want to reduce emissions, but we do not say how [that will happen]."
Yle reviewed the climate measures announced in the budget and compared them to a memorandum obtained by Yle, which was prepared before the start of budget negotiations.
In August, officials from the Ministry of the Environment proposed several measures to the government’s ministerial working group on climate and energy policy.
Some of the measures were included in the package announced on Thursday, but many of them – especially those related to transport – were not.
Some of the measures proposed by officials but left by politicians in the final package were:
- Taxes on heating fuels will be gradually increased by 2030. This would have led to emission reductions of 0.5 megatons, of which 0.15 megatons would come from industry and other emissions, 0.1 Mt from industrial machinery and 0.15 Mt from heating buildings.
- Several changes in driving taxation, including the shift from vehicle tax to petrol and diesel taxes (0.1-0.5 MB emission reduction), the abolition of diesel tax reductions (0.1-0.9 MB) and the increase in petrol tax indexes (0.2-0 .9 Mt).
- The road tax will move to an use-based model based on mileage and road classification, or a national carbon trading system. Under the trading system, fuel distributors would buy rights to sell fossil fuels from the state, which would increase their costs.
- A grubbing-up levy paid when forests are felled for agricultural or construction purposes.
- Phasing out of energy tax relief for farmers.
Measures on the table during the budget
According to Yle sources, the Greens and the Left Alliance proposed officials ’proposals in the budget talks, but other parties rejected them. The Central Party in particular strongly opposed new gasoline taxes.
The Greens and the Left wanted to create a mechanism for these measures to be implemented automatically if emissions do not meet Finland’s targets.
This mechanism was discussed at the meetings of the Greens and the Center, the two main protagonists, on Wednesday.
National emissions trading and toll reductions were both part of the government’s roadmap for a fuel-free future for fossils, which was published earlier this year. However, the roadmap only talks about the preparatory work for such measures and not about the timetable for their introduction.
The central side, in turn, proposed low-cost loans for low-income families to move away from oil heating systems, as well as greater tax breaks for work related to switching from oil-based domestic heating systems.
In the end, the prime minister Sanna Marin (SDP) proposal included a promise to review emissions reductions in March 2022, when an inter-party working group was set up in Parliament to agree on measures.
Sources in the center told Yle on Thursday that they were surprised that the promise was enough to approve the Green Parties because it does not contain any concrete measures to reduce emissions.
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Green sources said that the inclusion of expert assessments from the Finnish climate panel made the commitment significant for them.
"In practice, this means decisions on tax increases and emissions trading if current measures are not enough," the green source told Yle.
However, it is precisely these measures that the Center has opposed. SDP sources told Yle that in practice the can had been kicked into the road and the dispute will continue until next March.
Minister of the Environment at a press conference on Friday Krista Mikkonen (Green) argued that the package agreed this week could mean that Finland would become a carbon sink.
"We have agreed on a package that can become carbon neutral or even carbon negative by 2035," said Mikkonen.
The Minister of Transport will speak at the same press conference Timo Harakka (SDP) said private motorists had nothing to fear, before the agriculture minister Jari Leppä (Center) said it was working to ensure that Finnish farmers produce feed for Finnish livestock.
"Soybean-free Finland is an important issue when it comes to the climate impact of livestock feed," said Alder.