‘Scaling up Nordic solutions can reduce global emissions’

By scaling up just 15 proven Nordic solutions, countries all over the world can save four gigatonnes (Gt) of emissions every year by 2030, which is as much as the EU produces.

The costs for this scale-up equal the amount spent in just nine days on fossil fuel subsidies.

These results come from the Nordic Green to Scale study, which was launched recently in Marrakech during the just concluded UN Climate Conference (COP 22).

The Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra) has partnered with the Nordic Council of Ministers and distinguished institutions from all Nordic countries to scale up existing Nordic low-carbon solutions to a level of adoption in 2030 that has already been achieved by one or more Nordic countries.

“We have to work fast in order to achieve the goals set in the Paris agreement. This Nordic study shows that there are already plenty of proven low-carbon solutions available, and at an affordable cost. There is no reason to wait. The time to deliver is now”, says Minister of Agriculture and the Environment of Finland Kimmo Tiilikainen, Chair of the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment.

“The main concern decision makers have is that it’s either too difficult or too expensive to rapidly reduce emissions,” says Senior Advisor Oras Tynkkynen, who led the Nordic Green to Scale analysis on behalf of Sitra.

The Nordic Green to Scale study shows that emission reductions can be reached efficiently in all key sectors: energy, industry, transport, buildings and households, as well as agriculture and forestry.

In Finland, most of industrial and district heating is provided with energy efficient combined heat and power production (CHP). If other countries used CHP like this, it would reduce emissions by almost as much as Japan produces in a year.

Last year, almost every fourth new car sold in Norway was an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. If other wealthy countries used as many electric vehicles as Norway does, it would reduce emissions by almost as much as Denmark produces in a year.

Sweden has the world’s highest number of heat pumps per population. Scaling up the solution to selected European countries would cut emissions by as much as Cuba produces every year.

Nordic Green to Scale was produced as a joint project of institutions from all five Nordic countries, along with the Climate and Air Pollution Group KoL of the Nordic Council of Ministers.