Editorial|Northern Sweden is already experiencing a boom in green production, investment intentions are still being measured in Finland
Sthe greening of the door does not progress as desired.
The confederation of business and industry EK has monitored how much green investments are expected in Finland. There have been a lot of them.
When the world’s industry abandons the fossil age, it needs new types of climate-saving production methods and emission-free energy production. In the most futuristic visions, this revolution deals the cards of the industry into new ones: the old industrialized countries that gained their power with fossil energy are hardwired and forced to retreat. Regions capable of the most modern production take over the stations.
Finland has had a good position in visioning. The North has raw materials, clean energy, a good electricity transmission network and a stable political environment.
Just a year ago, EK’s calculations showed sky-high readings. More than 200 billion euros worth of green investments were coming to Finland, and the pot was growing rapidly. It doesn’t look so good now. Even in the latest EK survey, investments are known, but the growth of the amount is slowing down. Just a year ago, in the first half of the year, new investment plans worth 55 billion euros were accumulated in Havan, now only 6 billion. The size of the projects will also decrease.
The problem with EK mapping is that there is no certainty about the realization of the investment intentions accumulated in it. Part of the portfolio with a total value of 270 billion can be a thin upper cloud. A large part of the mapping projects will turn into factories, wind turbines and machines only after years at best. Now it is difficult to judge whether this will actually happen. The “investment balance sheet value” cannot be written down until the companies openly abandon their projects.
Many of the investment figures were made in a zero-interest world. It directly affected how profitable the project seemed. Market interest rates have risen since the idea was born.
Tthe hopes of the synergy benefits of Finland and Sweden benefiting Finland seem to be disappointing. The idea was that both countries would get more out of the greenery by working together. Sweden – especially northern Sweden – is already living in an investment boom, which is not really enough for the eastern neighbor except for jobs in the west.
In Sweden, it is calculated that in the next ten years, 100,000 more workers will be needed in Northern Sweden, which will be swept up by the green transition. The reading covers the jobs of the green transition and the jobs indirectly created by it. For example, workers and companies in the construction industry are moving west now that the industry is in a deep recession in Finland.
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The attitude of the Swedish business world has been proactive.
The spirit of the Finland-Sweden international match was seen, for example, when the steel company SSAB decided to locate a fossil-free production plant. Before the decision, the Finns assumed that the target of the 4.5 billion euro investment would be Raahe. It was the other way around. The money goes to Lulea, Sweden.
Sweden has had a large share of the background benefits of the green transition, from which Finland also benefits. Perhaps the weaker electricity transmission network is an exception in Sweden. Sweden was more alert and had time to attach projects and the subcontracting networks supporting them to its soil during the zero interest rate period. Now, when Finland, which is slower, is trying to join in, it is the last half-euro of the financing price that decides the realization of the investments.
The attitude of the Swedish business world has been otherwise positive. There has been more willingness to take risks, and renewable energy companies have grown outside of Sweden as well.
Jos Finland wants to stick to green investments, they need tax incentives – perhaps more than what is promised. This kind of incentive is good to the extent that the tax benefit only comes to realized projects against proof. So the government does not need to distribute money to companies during austerity and hope to get something back someday.
But if Sweden has been a pioneer, Finland’s attitude is characterized by the fact that one party in the government regards green as a curse word, calls climate investments green humps and wants cheap gasoline for the people.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the journal principle line.
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