Supporters of the Green Alliance, the Left Alliance and the Social Democrats were particularly likely to agree with the statement. The share of respondents who agreed with it was more than 40 percent also among supporters of the Center and the Coalition.
Logging has harmful effects on the climate, especially by reducing carbon sinks, which are a key part of the climate goals announced by the Prime Minister’s government. Sanna Marin (SDP). The carbon stored in the trees is relatively quickly released back into the atmosphere, especially if the felled wood is processed into a relatively short life cycle product, such as firewood, newsprint and cardboard.
The government is committed to taking steps to ensure that carbon sinks are sufficient to offset greenhouse gas emissions completely by 2025.
However, Statistics Finland published a set of preliminary data in May that seem to undermine the critical background assumption of the national climate policy: the data show that the land use sector has changed from a carbon sink to a source of emissions for the first time. sometime in 2021.
The bureau noted that the change occurred at the same time that the harvest of industrial timber rose to the second highest level in history. Another contributing factor, it added, is a downward trend in stand growth – a phenomenon whose cause has yet to be determined, although one possible explanation relates to managed forests being harvested at a younger age than in the past. .
SLL also asked the respondents in August whether they think companies should be obliged to pay for reductions in carbon sinks in the same way that the energy and transport sectors pay for climate warming emissions. The majority supported such an obligation, but the distribution was not as clear-cut as in the case of reducing logging, with 43 percent in favor and 35 percent against.
Hanna AhoSLL’s nature conservation expert, told According to Helsingin Sanomat, the impetus for commissioning the study was the prevailing global situation, which seems to be causing additional pressure on forests, even though the climate crisis is visible in the form of severe drought and heat waves across Europe.
“Cutting has increased steadily over the long term, although there is year-to-year variation, and there is still pressure to increase it,” he said.
According to him, the pressure comes from, for example, the pulp mill built by Metsä Fibre in Kemi. Although the company has demanded that the plant be named a bioproduct factory, its main product will be softwood and hardwood pulp, the newspaper emphasized.
The suspension of wood chip imports from Russia also adds to the pressure.
Aho said that the Finnish government has not supported its climate goals with climate measures. The climate change panel has sent a similar message by calling for a policy program to “save carbon sinks” in Finland.
According to Aho, the actions of the state and the forest industry have taken the country in the opposite direction of its climate goals.
“Marin’s government is accelerating [the building] from wood export terminals and has financed the construction of infrastructure around the Kemi mill. On the other hand, measures to curb logging have largely been left undone, he complained.
Taloustutkimus interviewed 1,005 people aged 18–79 for the survey between 4 and 14 July.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page