Bloomberg reported that Finland may phase out the use of coal in energy production by 2025, the first European country to do so.

Economy Minister Jyri Haekaemies said I think we could set a target for Finland phasing out coal use as the first country in Europe, for instance by 2025.”

Mr Haekaemies said the policy document, to subsidies and taxes seek to boost the use of renewable energy and cut fossil fuel use by 2020 will be revised and updated by the end of this year.

He said “Investments into renewable energy will play a key role in the updated policy. All the imported energy which we can replace with domestic energy sources not only creates jobs, but also cuts emissions and improves our current account.”

Finland imports all of its coal, mainly from Russia and Poland. During the past 15 years, Finland has shipped in an average of 5 million tonnes of coal annually. Fortum Oyj, Finland’s biggest power producer, operates the country’s largest coal-fired station, the 920 MW Inkoo plant on the south coast. It also has a share in the 565 MW Meri-Pori plant on the west coast. It was commissioned in 1994 and is one of the cleanest and most effective coal-fired power plants in the world

Source - Bloomberg

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