Finland’s Environmental Market: Opportunities at the Baltic-Scandinavian Crossroads

by William Corley
Export America

The environmental sector encompasses high-tech activity and broad societal interest in Finland. Finnish consumers, businesspeople, and government officials are highly aware of environmental protection. Finnish legislation requires the best available technology for environmental applications. This requirement appears in laws concerning water resources, waste management, air pollution control, and sea protection.

Woodland
Finland’s environmental outlook relates to the beauty and utility of its forests. Forestry, including paper, pulp, and wood products, is a major contributor to the Finnish economy. Forests cover more than 70 percent of Finland, and one out of every five Finns earns his or her living directly or indirectly from trees. The wood and paper industry accounts for a quarter of Finland’s export earnings. Finnish manufacturers dominate the paper and paperboard market in Western Europe.

Finland’s wood and paper industry is the primary end user of air- and water-pollution control equipment. The industry is highly efficient and environmentally sensitive. It has allocated some 90 million euros annually, or up to 10 percent of its total domestic investment, into environmental protection in recent years.

Demand for pollution control equipment is rising in part due to concern over ecological degradation in northwestern Russia and the Baltic countries. Through technology transfer, Finland has helped its eastern neighbors to tackle some of their environmental challenges. In recent years, Finland has concentrated primarily on cooperation with and investment in St. Petersburg and its environs, given the pressing need to improve wastewater treatment and reduce harmful discharge into the Baltic Sea.

Techland
The Finnish government encourages both the use and development of environmentally friendly products. It grants subsidies and tax breaks to companies that buy or export Finnish pollution control equipment. The government has also funded technology facilities, which have established R&D departments for pollution control technology. Meanwhile, Wood Wisdom, a 1998–2001 public-private project, brought together hundreds of scientists and experts from research organizations, forestry companies, academic institutions, and environmental groups. Such initiatives spur local competition and innovation in environmentally sound practices. They have produced advances in wood processing, biomass energy, and satellite tracking of forest resources, among others.

Top Prospects
The best sales prospects for U.S. companies are within recycling of solid waste (from both households and industry). Additional prospects include the potential to supply equipment such as monitoring and measurement instruments for air pollution, as well as technology to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. Finland is also a critical gateway to the Baltic nations and northwestern Russia, where further significant environmental projects will arise. For more information about Finland as well as exporting environmental technologies worldwide, see the November 2002 issue of Export America.

Sources: U.S. Commercial Service, Helsinki; Finnish Ministry of the Environment; Finnfacts; Virtual Finland.