Professor Seppälä: “The more road traffic energy is traffic electricity, the less need there is for limited sustainable renewable fuels in the distribution obligation and thus less pressure to raise pump prices”.
The morning traffic in Helsinki was congested on June 13 due to the fall of the crane. Mikko Huisko
- Finland’s climate panel has published its assessment of the current government’s transport emission reduction measures in relation to the climate goals.
- According to the climate panel, the most significant challenges are related to changes in the fuel distribution obligation.
- According to the panel, it is possible to achieve the emission targets by increasing the share of renewable fuels among fossil transport fuels to a sufficiently large one and by speeding up the electrification of transport.
According to the climate panel, the development of transport emissions is of central importance in fulfilling the emission reduction obligation of the Finnish load-sharing sector.
Prime minister Petteri Orpon however, according to the panel, the government’s policies make it difficult to fulfill the obligation.
The climate panel’s new report presents actions that would reduce road traffic emissions quickly enough to achieve climate goals.
“Increases transport costs”
Finland must reduce its emissions from the burden-sharing sector by 50 percent of the 2005 amount by 2030.
The climate panel reminds in its report that transport is the largest source of emissions in the load-sharing sector, so it plays a significant role in achieving the sector’s emission reduction target. About 90 percent of domestic traffic emissions are caused by road traffic.
– The report shows that the policies of the current government increase traffic emissions compared to the previously agreed development. If implemented, the proposals will slow down electrification, which at the same time will increase transport costs in the future, says a member of Finland’s climate panel, professor Heikki Liimatainen.
According to the climate panel, not making transport emission reductions is therefore not economically justifiable either.
– The more road traffic energy is traffic electricity, the less need there is for limited sustainable renewable fuels in the distribution obligation and thus less pressure to raise pump prices, chairman of the Finnish climate panel, professor Jyri Seppälä states.
The climate panel’s report emphasizes that vehicle emissions should be reduced primarily by electrification and low-carbon synthetic fuels such as electric fuels and hydrogen, and not by increasing the total amount of biofuels, with the exception of biogas.
– From the point of view of transport costs, rapid electrification can effectively compensate for the upward pressure on costs caused by the increase in road transport emissions trading and the distribution obligation, and the benefits of the low operating costs of electric cars will be emphasized in the long term, says Liimatainen.
According to the climate panel’s report, sufficient traffic emission reduction can only be ensured by taking the distribution obligation according to the current law as a starting point and increasing the obligation share by the amount of electricity charged from public charging stations.
– Sufficiently large use of renewable fuels among fossil fuels, together with the promotion of electrification, offers the only reliable set of means to reduce emissions in the road transport sector quickly enough to achieve the goals, says Professor Jyri Seppälä.
A list of nine items
The climate panel has a proposal for nine measures for road transport, so that road transport emissions would meet their share of the load-sharing sector’s emission reduction obligation by 2030.
1. The distribution obligation must be returned to the level prior to the changes proposed by Prime Minister Orpo’s government starting in 2025.
2. Electricity charged at public charging stations must be included in the distribution obligation in such a way that the obligation is increased by the amount of energy corresponding to publicly charged renewable electricity.
– The inclusion of publicly charged electricity in the distribution obligation does not reduce the emissions of the road transport sector, but increases them, because other low-carbon fractions are reduced by a corresponding amount of energy in distributed transport fuels, the climate panel states.
3. The reduction of the penalty fee for failure to fulfill the distribution obligation in the years 2025–2027 must be waived.
– There is no certainty that the money received from penalty fees will be able to replace the emission reductions lost in traffic.
4. The introduction of the flexibility mechanism for the distribution obligation is justified only if the distribution obligation is increased as described above.
– The functionality of Jousto in securing the goals of the burden-sharing sector is uncertain.
5. Biofuel quantities that can be refueled separately should be removed from the scope of the distribution obligation.
– This way they would act as additional emission reduction measures in road traffic.
6. Intermediate hydrogen should not be included in the distribution obligation, or if included, the level of the distribution obligation should be increased by the corresponding amount of energy.
7. The construction of public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles on main roads should be supported.
8. The purchase of electric trucks must be supported.
9. The promotion of public transport, walking and cycling should be supported.
Finland’s climate panel is a scientific and independent expert panel that supports climate policy planning and decision-making. The climate panel’s role and tasks are defined in the Climate Act.
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