Greenhouse Impacts of the Use of Peat and Peatlands in Finland - Research Programme Final Report
Lataukset:
maa- ja metsätalousministeriö
28.09.2007
Julkaisusarja:
Publications of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 11a/2007This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-453394-2Tiivistelmä
Peat is a domestic fuel of national importance to Finland and, considering its employment impact, it also has regional policy significance. On the basis of the National Climate Strategy (VNS 1/2001 vp), the Ministry of Trade and Industry commissioned in January 2001 a survey of the needs for further research into the life cycle analysis of peat. The purpose of the survey was to estimate what information will be needed to scientifically motivate, if possible, the introduction of calculation methods which better take into account the life cycle of peat in calculating emissions from the use of peat under the principles of the Kyoto Protocol. Another motivating factor was Finland’s obligation to report on emissions from peat and peatlands under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the aim being to further specify these values.
As a result of the survey, an extensive research programme entitled Greenhouse Impacts of the Use of Peat and Peatlands in Finland was launched. Since the four-year programme, by its nature, required extensive resources for conducting measurements in the field, it was jointly funded and steered by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment. The programme consisted of several research projects whose purpose was to establish the greenhouse gas (GHG) balances of peatlands in various types of land use. The practical work involved was carried out by research teams at three universities and four research institutions: the Universities of Helsinki, Joensuu and Kuopio, the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla), the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the Geological Survey of Finland and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The results of the programme have already contributed to a significant specification of the emission factors of the greenhouse impacts of peatland land use for the national GHG inventory, and life cycle analyses have been employed to establish peat utilization models that would minimize the greenhouse impact of peat use. It was partly due to the findings of this programme that the classification of peat in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories was changed to recognize peat as a class of its own between fossil fuels and biomass. In the greenhouse gas inventory, however, the emission calculations in the energy sector are only based on emissions generated through combustion. Life cycle emissions analyses cannot be applied in the reporting of
greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
As a result of the survey, an extensive research programme entitled Greenhouse Impacts of the Use of Peat and Peatlands in Finland was launched. Since the four-year programme, by its nature, required extensive resources for conducting measurements in the field, it was jointly funded and steered by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment. The programme consisted of several research projects whose purpose was to establish the greenhouse gas (GHG) balances of peatlands in various types of land use. The practical work involved was carried out by research teams at three universities and four research institutions: the Universities of Helsinki, Joensuu and Kuopio, the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla), the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the Geological Survey of Finland and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The results of the programme have already contributed to a significant specification of the emission factors of the greenhouse impacts of peatland land use for the national GHG inventory, and life cycle analyses have been employed to establish peat utilization models that would minimize the greenhouse impact of peat use. It was partly due to the findings of this programme that the classification of peat in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories was changed to recognize peat as a class of its own between fossil fuels and biomass. In the greenhouse gas inventory, however, the emission calculations in the energy sector are only based on emissions generated through combustion. Life cycle emissions analyses cannot be applied in the reporting of
greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.