Ii, with a population of just 9,889 people hides along Finland’s frosty inner coast. But it harbours the biggest of ambitions: it wants to be the first zero-waste, carbon-neutral town in the world.
Thanks to a number of climate actions, Ii is on track to slash its CO2 emissions by 80 per cent this year, a cool 30 years ahead of the EU target.
Ari Alatossova, Mayor of Ii, has spearheaded the town’s carbon-neutral program, implementing it with the help of a regional development company, Micropolis.
“To reach that kind of target, 80 per cent, everyone should be involved,” says Alatossava. “And everyone is - public organisations, companies, other businesses, and people who are living here - you need all those (people) and their actions.”
Mayor of Ii municipality, Ari Alatossava, says the town is on track to reduce emissions by 80 per cent this year. Source: Dateline
How did they make it happen?
Ari Alatossava says the program’s success has been thanks to a municipality-wide adoption of everyday actions steered by a simple three-part strategy: use energy more efficiently, reduce their use of fossil fuels and shift to renewables.
“One of the main actions to reduce carbon emissions is how we heat our houses - there is a long winter period here in the north, so we need to heat our houses. And in the municipality, we used to have 15 schools and other buildings, to be heated by using oil, about ten years ago - nowadays, we do not use oil at all anymore."
To further cut emissions, the municipality has also focussed on improving energy efficiency in homes and buildings, working to ensure smarter ventilation and better insulation while installing technology that allows real time energy consumption measurements.
School children are also involved, learning to reduce water, electricity and heat consumption with a key incentive. Since 2016, every school and kindergarten in II has participated in a 50/50 program, where the municipality refunds 50 per cent of energy savings - money that is then able to be spent by the school.
Renewable investment
But Ii’s mayor says the biggest success has been a shift to renewables, with the town now producing more renewable energy than ever, embracing a mix of wind, solar, bio and geothermal energy.
“Now its only renewable ways is used, the main source of renewable energy is hydropower and the other main source is wind power,” he said.
Capitalising on the northern climate and winds, the town has established multiple wind parks. Now home to over 50 wind turbines and counting, it’s one of the largest turbine clusters in the country.
“These turbines are now producing more energy than is used here in Ii, so the companies are exporting the energy to the other regions and the other buyers in Finland,” says Ari Alatossava.
“The tax revenue is about one million annually to the municipality. So it’s big money to us and all citizens in Ii because with that one million we produce the services to people who live here.”
Ari says this embrace of renewables was borne out of economic necessity, not just environmental altruism, after the telecommunications company Nokia suffered losses in 2010 and 2011.
“Most people in Ii were working with Nokia group and it impacted our region. So we asked ourselves what could be the businesses of the future? How can we boost the economy in our region? And the enviro energy business was one.”
“It’s very good for us, it brings jobs, new jobs and new businesses in the region. And that's very important when we are talking about what is the attitude of people and businesses towards climate issues and climate actions.”
E-car roll out
Ari says the work won’t stop here. The town is now focussing on “resource wisdom”, working to improve its waste management and establish a circular economy while also looking at food production and consumption.
The mayor says the most difficult emissions source to tackle has been transportation.
In addition to creating new cycle roads, the municipality has now begun an e-car initiative in the hope of cutting carbon emissions from cars.
“The other main source of carbon emission is traffic and transportation and we have organised a reduction of traffic so that we use electric cars and electric vans.”
The town’s electric cars are free for use for the employees of the municipality from 7am to 5pm, and open to the public to rent after hours and on weekends.
The cars don’t just help the environment - but also feed into the local economy.
“We now can say that we are driving by using local wind. Because the electricity that is used in this car is produced here in a local wind farm.”
A new future for local workers
Ii’s investment in windfarms has also provided alternative employment to many of the town’s historic peat workers - an industry deeply embedded in Finnish history.
Peat - a fossil fuel that’s dirtier than coal - is dug up and burned in part by the nation’s power plants for heat and energy. The industry has kept rural communities in the north of Finland employed for decades.
The contribution of peat to Finland's greenhouse gas emissions can exceed 10 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – equal to the total emissions of all passenger-car traffic in Finland.
Aerial view of peat production site in Siikalatva, Finland. A toxic fossil fuel, peat is dug up and burned by power plants across Finland for heat and energy. Source: Dateline
Jyrki Topponen works on one of the town’s 50 wind farms as a technician.
“When Windity started at Ii I didn't believe it and had some doubts about wind power - and now today I have to believe in it.”
He had been digging up peat since the 1990s - and says the benefits of the Ii’s move to the wind power industry were wide spread.
“Peat was even then very questionable. Because it made the water in the river very dirty. The water in the river has become much clearer from what it was in the 90s.
“But I couldn't ever say I was a peat worker to the local fishermen. I would be told off by people. Every field has its own opponents, even in here.”
Aerial view of peat production site in Siikalatva, Finland. Source: Dateline
Finland's 2035 carbon-neutral plan
The town of II is at the forefront of a wider national push to become carbon neutral by 2035 - one of the most ambitious emission reduction targets in the world.
With 23 million hectares of forest covering 75 per cent of its territory, Finland is well-prepared to use reforestation to fight climate change. That's why the Finnish government pledged last April to make the country carbon neutral by 2035.
The 2035 carbon neutral target – requires Finland to radically reduce its consumption of fossil fuels and peat, which together supply about 40 per cent of the country’s energy needs.
The programme calls for a rapid increase in wind and solar power production, the electrification of heating and transport, and a 10 per cent increase in bioenergy, mainly from agricultural waste and forest residues.
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