Municipalities’ climate emissions drop by 7.4%

Municipalities’ total climate emissions decreased by 7.4% in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to a preliminary data calculation by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

The biggest decrease occurred in the emissions from electricity usage (-20.3%). Emissions from the electricity usage fell due to the switch from fossil fuels to wind power and decreased electricity consumption as a result of the warm year, said the SYKE in a press release on Monday.

According to preliminary data, emissions also decreased in other sectors in municipalities. District heating was increasingly produced with biomass, and oil heating was replaced by alternative heating methods. However, when examining emissions reductions in district heating.

Road traffic emissions also dropped in almost all municipalities.

“It is expected that some of the emission reductions occurred as a result of the exceptional COVID-19 year. In road traffic, for example, emissions decreased mainly due to a decrease in the distances driven, but the effects of improved energy efficiency and electrification of the vehicle fleet are also gradually beginning to show. The effects of the COVID-19 year on emission trends cannot be presented directly, but it is possible to derive the effects of the exceptional circumstances on the development of emissions from electricity use, water transport and industry”, said Santtu Karhinen, Senior Research Scientist in charge of the calculation at SYKE.

Positive emission trends can also be observed over a longer period of time. Emissions have decreased in almost all Finnish municipalities in 2005–2020, when the average change has been minus 24%.

In 2020, the main sources of emissions in Finnish municipalities were road transport (26%), agriculture (20%), district heating (15%) and electricity consumption (heating and other consumer electricity 11%).

Emissions per resident fell in all regions from the year before.

However, there are considerable differences between municipalities and regions in the sectoral distribution of emissions and their development. According to preliminary data, emissions per resident are lowest in the southern regions as in the previous year.

Regional differences are explained by differences in industrial structures, geographical factors, weather conditions and fuel use of district heating.