Press releases

Environment continues to be a high priority for the Barents cooperation. Foreign Ministers of the four Barents countries - Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden - emphasized it during the annual International Kirkenes Conference held on 17 February this year. “Environmental issues are high on the agenda of Barents cooperation. We have seen many success stories so far in the field of reducing pollution” says Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto.

Water temperatures in the Baltic Sea are increasing and the deep-water temperatures are record-high in some areas. Phosphorus concentrations are rising in the central part of the Archipelago Sea and the Bothnian Sea. The observations were made during the annual winter monitoring cruise in January which is part of the Monitoring Programme of the Finnish marine management plan.

A new service opened today provides impartial data on the climate impacts of construction products used in Finland, such as carbon footprint and handprint, material efficiency and recyclability. This information harmonises the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of buildings, facilitating low-carbon building design. The service is free of charge and open to everyone.

Testing five antifouling paints for recreational craft showed that the paint choices may significantly impact the spread of invasive species. Antifouling paints were tested as part of the EU-funded COMPLETE project, which seeks concrete actions for the prevention of the arrival and spread of non-indigenous species in the Baltic Sea Region.

Joining the Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities (Hinku) network has led to lower greenhouse gas emission levels in member municipalities in Finland. The majority of Hinku municipalities found that network membership has also improved the effectiveness of local climate work, according to a recent study by the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE.