Finland broke the EU’s climate limits with a bang

Finland’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by about seven percent last year as a whole, it turns out Statistics Finland from fresh of the greenhouse gas inventory.

Last year, the total amount of emissions was 36.5 million carbon dioxide equivalent tons, while the amount of emissions in 2024 was about 2.7 million tons higher.

A ton of carbon dioxide equivalent is a unit of measurement used in climate science, which contains the combined effect of different greenhouse gases on global warming.

According to Statistics Finland, the decrease in emissions is largely explained by the reduction in the use of fossil fuels in the energy sector. The sector in question accounted for more than 60 percent of Finland’s total emissions in 2025.

Emissions from transport, agriculture and waste management all decreased last year. For example, emissions from the waste sector decreased by eight percent during the comparison period.

The amount of emissions from the land use sector decreased by almost half a million tons. The sector still produced emissions of more than 9 million carbon dioxide-equivalent tons, which corresponds to roughly a quarter of the total emissions.

The most significant increase in emissions was in the mineral industry sector, where emissions increased by almost 16 percent. Chief Actuary of Statistics Finland Pia Forsell according to this, this is explained by the increase in the production of clinker used as cement raw material.

Last year, Finland exceeded the emission quota set by the EU’s burden-sharing sector by 0.6 million tons, even though the sector’s emissions as a whole decreased by five percent. At the same time, the emissions of facilities covered by emissions trading decreased by as much as 11 percent from the previous year.

The figures announced by Statistics Finland are indicative, and they will be finalized no later than the spring of next year.

Statistics Finland was responsible for the statistics of the greenhouse gas inventory, Natural Resources Center and Finnish Environmental Center.