Finland as a pioneer in implementing the EU Green Deal

Opportunities for international companies

The European Green Deal, issued by the European Commission in December 2019, points the way for the further development of the European climate protection agenda. The central goal is to achieve climate neutrality at EU level by 2050.

Finland goes still much further at the national level. According to the government program, Finland aims to become CO2-neutral by 2035 and shortly thereafter CO2-negative. In addition, Finland wants to be the first welfare society in the world to completely do without fossil fuels.

To achieve these goals, Finland is making significant efforts to promote renewable energy and reform the energy sector towards a more flexible, market-based system that can fully utilise the potential of new technologies and cross-sector solutions. With its innovative and dynamic business environment, outstanding know-how and flat hierarchies, Finland offers excellent framework conditions for succeeding in this objective.

An impressive example is the success story of the Finnish wind power sector. Although wind power has been used commercially for barely a decade here, it has quickly become the most competitive form of electricity generation and Finnish wind farms are now regularly implemented without any government support. Instead of relying on public subsidies, stable revenues are secured via long-term electricity supply contracts with energy companies or industrial customers, for whom sustainability and climate protection are becoming increasingly important.

One important element in the reform of the energy sector is energy storage. Here, too, Finland is striving to be a pioneer. The "Batteries from Finland" initiative aims to establish Finland as the world's leading provider of sustainable solutions across the entire life cycle of batteries, from raw material extraction and processing to battery recycling.

"Power-to-X" solutions, such as green hydrogen, which is generated using renewable energies and can be used as a fuel in transport or as a raw material in industry, also have considerable future potential. These technologies enable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions also in those sectors that have traditionally been considered difficult to decarbonize. In addition, the possibility of long-term storage can make an important contribution to increasing the flexibility of the energy system.

These developments are supported by extensive regulatory measures that have been implemented or are under preparation. These include, for example, tax breaks for offshore wind farms, the elimination of double taxation for storage solutions, making the electricity markets more flexible and creating incentives for the use of new technologies in grid expansion.

There is a wide range of investment opportunities for international companies, whether it is the delivery of systems and components, the provision of services for the electricity market or investments in energy projects.