Large EU Life project for Finland to mitigate climate change

© Kuva: Mauri Mahlamäki

The European Commission has granted 9.1 million euros to Finland to help mitigate climate change. The ‘Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities’ (CANEMURE) project, which has been approved for the Life programme, will promote practical measures to mitigate climate change over the next six years. The total budget for the project is 15.3 million euros. Domestic funders for the project include the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry, the Energy Authority and Sitra.

‘In the Paris Climate Agreement, all the countries of the world committed to reducing their emissions. The emission reduction commitments made so far, however, are not sufficient to achieve the recognised critical target of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. Action is needed from many different parties, and cities and municipalities in particular find themselves in a central role. Through this new project, Finland will have better opportunities to respond to the huge challenge of combating climate change’, believes Project Leader and Senior Researcher Laura Saikku from the Finnish Environment Institute.

‘The aim of the project is to promote smart and low-carbon transport, increase the production of distributed renewable energy and improve the energy efficiency of buildings. In addition, we support processes which create a sustainable urban structure and the conditions for low-carbon production and consumption. The project also promotes the transition of agriculture and forestry to the use of low-carbon soil treatment methods, especially in peatlands.’

A total of 22 organisations are participating in the project, including municipalities and municipal organisations, research institutes and companies. Alongside promotion of practical climate measures, the project will also involve running courses and trainings, forming cooperation networks and disseminating good practices around the whole of Finland.

Expertise supports regional work

The Finnish Environment Institute, the University of Tampere, the Natural Resources Institute Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Institute together comprise the service centre of expert organisations that produce new knowledge and information and develop tools appropriate for different target groups. The service centre shows good examples of combating climate change at both the national and international level. The service centre assesses the climate impacts of measures taken, reports on the results and supports the climate work of regional cooperation networks and municipalities.

‘The project brings to Finland a long-term approach, particularly for the climate work of pioneering municipalities and regions. Among other things, the project aims to expand the Carbon Neutral Municipalities (HINKU) network to new municipalities in Finland. Another objective is to generate new projects around Finland that support the mitigation of climate change and to reinforce the future competitiveness of Finnish society. Furthermore, a special feature of the project is the objective of gathering together examples of successful actions from both domestic and international projects and promoting their implementation in Finland’, emphasises Professor Jyri Seppälä from the Finnish Environment Institute, who is the director in charge of the project.

The CANEMURE project will involve nearly 20 concrete sub-projects connected with mitigating and adapting to climate change. These sub-projects will be carried out by the project’s core regions – Uusimaa, Finland Proper, Satakunta, North Ostrobothnia, Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme and South Karelia.

Further information:

Laura Saikku, Senior Researcher and Project Leader, Finnish Environment Institute tel: +358 (0)400 148 771

Professor Jyri Seppälä, Director in Charge of the project, Finnish Environment Institute tel: +358 (0)40 7401 708

LIFE-IP CANEMURE-FIN
LIFE 17 IPC FI 002
CANEMURE -project is funded by EU LIFE-programme.