“We need more Finlands in the Bioeconomy”. This is what John Bell, director Bioeconomy at the EU Commission said yesterday in Helsinki at the European Bioeconomy Scene 2019, organized with the objective to achieve an inclusive and sustainable bioeconomy for Europe.
Helsinki is the European capital of bioeconomy. A Bioeconomy Conference is being organised to contribute to achieving an inclusive and sustainable bioeconomy for Europe. Finland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the European Commission are jointly organising the conference, and it is one of the events to be held in Helsinki under Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Finnish bioeconomy takes a step forward. KaiCell Fibers Ltd is led to the stage that preparation for construction can get started. Environment permit is in the authority evaluation, mill site is contracted, and coding is getting ready, big share of the wood supply is pre-contracted, technical preparations are well advanced and industrial partners have readiness to join in.
Pöyry Finland Ltd has completed a survey on socio-economic impacts of KaiCell Fibers’ biorefinery in Finland. According to the survey, the impact on the total output of Finland is close to one billion euros and over 700 million euros in the Kainuu province alone.
The on-going biorefinery project has a very remarkable impact on regional economy and employment. Through the indirect effects of the biorefinery, 1190 jobs are created in Kainuu region when the mill is operational. At national level, the employment effect is almost 2000 jobs. The impact of the construction period is 6400 person-years in Finland. Once mill is in operation, the increase on gross national product of Finland will be about 0,2% and in the area province of Kainuu, the increase will be 12 %. Continue reading
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for UPM’s possible Kotka Biorefinery in Finland has been completed and given to the authorities for their final conclusions. The UPM Kotka Biorefinery would produce approximately 500,000 tonnes of advanced biofuels made from sustainable raw materials for use in the road transport, marine and aviation sectors. The biorefinery’s products could also be used for replacing fossil raw materials in the chemical industry.
Everything is ready in Ruka, Finland, to host the first edition of the World Bioeconomy Forum. The preparations have been progressing swiftly, and the event has gathered interest worldwide: there are speakers and participants coming from as far away as Australia, Indonesia, and India. Actors responsible for EU’s latest biostrategy update will also be present.
There is a new company in the world bioeconomy: Metsä Spring Ltd, the new innovation company established by Metsä Group. The company will, together with partner organisations, invest in new endeavours with the target to identify and develop new business opportunities in sustainable forest-based bioeconomy and circular economy. Niklas von Weymarn has been appointed CEO of the company. He transferred to Metsä Spring from the position of VP, Research in Metsä Fibre, also part of Metsä Group. The office of Metsä Spring is in the heart of the internationally-acknowledged Otaniemi innovation campus in Espoo, Finland. The establishment of the new innovation company – the Finnish multinational company underlines – does not affect the current research and development activities of Metsä Group’s current business areas.
We receive and publish with pleasure this contribution sent by professor Olli Dahl (Aalto University, Finland), who presents a list of all the main investments and their products in Finnish bioeconomy, and considers whether the country’s forest resources can cope with so much new potential capacity in the forest industry sector.
The Metsä Group’s bioproduct mill start-up will begin in mid-August, and pulp deliveries from the new mill to customers will begin in early September. The current pulp mill at Äänekoski – the company announced – will be shut down once the bioproduct mill starts up.
Finland is the cradle of the bioeconomy. And maybe someone could someday propose to change the name from Finland to Bio-land. The latest news is that buses in the Helsinki region and most of machinery and trucks used by the City of Helsinki are switching to waste and residue-based biofuels. Helsinki Region Transport HSL, the City of Helsinki and the producers of renewable fuels involved in the project are all pioneers in carbon-neutral transport. The project is internationally significant.
