Photo by Lucas Marcomini on Unsplash For the past ten years, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network has published an annual list of the happiest countries in the world. People in 149 countries were asked to rate their own happiness: criteria included social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product and levels of corruption. Sponsored by the UN it is…
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €687 million Finnish scheme to partially compensate energy-intensive companies for higher electricity prices resulting from the impact of carbon prices on electricity generation costs (so-called ‘indirect emission costs’), incurred between 2021 and 2025, under the EU Emission Trading System (‘ETS’). The measure will benefit…
The European Commission has disbursed €271 million to Finland in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country’s financial allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The pre-financing payment will help kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Finland’s recovery and resilience plan. The Commission will authorise further disbursements based…
The EU is requesting consultations with Russia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning export restrictions placed by Russia on wood products. The export restrictions consist of significantly increased export duties on certain wood products and a drastic reduction in the number of border crossing points through which exports of wood products can take place….
Climate ambition is going in the right direction, says Confederation of Finnish Industries’ Director General Jyri Häkämies. On Friday, Hakamies told this site, “Last year was a turning point: for the first time, all the major economic powers; the EU, the US and China committed to the goals of carbon neutrality by the middle of the…
Kaisa Soro-Pesonen has been appointed Head of the Brussels Office of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) as of 11 January 2021. Kaisa Soro-Pesonen has been in Brussels for 16 years. She is joining the Confederation of Finnish Industries from the Cabinet of Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships at the European Commission Prior to this, she served…
Finnish interest groups say the EU sustainable financing package threatens to raise emission-free electricity generation costs and therefore erode export industry competitiveness. The European Commission will publish in the coming days a draft of sustainability criteria for climate-critical investments. The sustainability criteria will be the subject of an extensive round of consultations over the next…
Our friends in Finland celebrated earlier this year before lockdown with a fast-stepping polka dance. They have sent us a timely reminder on these dark rainy nights of what life after COVID may be like when we can socialise again.
Finnish Industries says it has identified five conditions that need to be in place to successfully achieve the 2030 emissions reduction target. Achieving a more ambitious EU 2030 target will however require companies to make unprecedented investments – and within less than a decade, it warns. Therefore, economic reconstruction, recovery funding and climate measures need to…
Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä debated the future of Europe with MEPs and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday. In his speech to MEPs, Finnish Prime Minister Sipilä expressed his support for the “kind of EU that proves its credibility through concrete action”. He highlighted that the way to win back people’s trust and fight…
