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Among financial institutions, there is a growing concern about risks in their portfolios related to biodiversity, and its closely related affiliate, climate change. Investors are demanding greater transparency and biodiversity management in order to make informed investment decisions in listed equity and to act as responsible shareholders. The aim of this thesis is to explore, from the Nordic pension investor point of view, how the risk related to biodiversity loss is assessed and managed in the financial markets. Following qualitative approach, primary data was collected with 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews of two target groups: pension investors in the Nordic countries and ESG specialists which refers to specialists in sustainable finance or biodiversity related sustainability fields. The results were analyzed using template analysis. The results show that taking biodiversity into consideration in investment processes is constantly evolving and Nordic pension investors are paying close attention to the topic. Among drivers to incorporate biodiversity into investment decision-making, risk management was the most important. ESG specialists' experience of institutional investors' means to influence biodiversity loss mitigation differed from pension investors' perspective. Nordic pension investors are not fully aware of the existing methods for analyzing the risks and impacts of biodiversity loss in their own investment portfolio. However, they are highly motivated to find reliable ways to manage portfolio risks. Integrating biodiversity risks and impacts into the investment process can be challenging due to a lack of investment tools and best practices. Investors are preparing for increasing statutory and voluntary regulation. Both ESG specialists and Nordic pension investors see that lack of comparable, transparent, reliable data is an essential barrier when it comes to listed-equity investments and biodiversity loss mitigation. The data available lacks financial materiality and the impacts of biodiversity loss on the real-world return expectations, and return-risk-profiles are unknown. To solve problems regarding the lack of data in general and especially transparent and comparable data, companies are expected to disclose material nature-related dependencies and impacts, and report associated metrics and targets.

The purpose of this study was to study the current biodiversity management practices in three large size companies and to study the biggest challenges the case companies are facing regarding biodiversity management. Biodiversity loss has been discussed for decades, but in only in recent years biodiversity has been more discussed also from more strategic point of view in the corporate world. The private sector has a considerable impact on biodiversity as well as a large part of the capacity to slow down and change the direction of biodiversity loss. Therefore, it is important that also the private sector considers and manages its impacts on biodiversity. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study including three case companies. The data was gathered through half-structured questionnaires through Microsoft Forms, a one-hour distance discussion with each of the companies, and from the latest annual reports in the fall of 2020. The results showed that biodiversity is considered to be an important topic among the case companies and that they are increasingly considering their impact on biodiversity as well. All case companies expect regulation on biodiversity to increase in the future and also the stakeholder demand around the topic has increased. However, only one of the companies has considered their impacts on biodiversity for years already; they have a management plan and they are following a specific reporting framework. Two of the companies have started to consider biodiversity separately or as a part of their other sustainability topics but they do not yet have biodiversity management plans in place nor do they follow any specific reporting framework. Regarding the biggest difficulties, the results show that especially finding suitable indicators and measuring the impacts on biodiversity are considered difficult. The results also show that understanding the concept of biodiversity and how biodiversity is related to the business is difficult. Companies also see that there is a lot of information regarding biodiversity available, but knowledge on how to use it for managing biodiversity is lacking. The results as well as the literature review indicate that impacts on biodiversity is increasingly managed but there are difficulties that need to be overcome. There are several biodiversity management frameworks that can be used for assessing the impacts and building suitable management plans. The better understanding companies have on their impacts biodiversity and vice versa, the better. It must be noted that the results indicate the views of large size (over 40 million € net revenue) companies in sectors that have rather direct impact on biodiversity. Therefore, the results may differ when studying companies of different sizes and from other sectors.

Nykyinen jälkiteollinen ihmiskunta tuottaa energiansa pääasiassa fossiilisilla polttoaineilla. Pariisin ilmastosopimuksen osapuolet sitoutuivat pitämään ilmaston lämpenemisen alle kahdessa celsiusasteessa verrattuna esiteolliseen aikaan ja muuttamaan energiantuotantotapojaan. Yhtenä ratkaisuna nähdään uusiutuvat energianlähteet, joita kuuluvat muun muassa biopolttoaineet. Bioetanoli on maailmanlaajuisesti käytetyin liikenteen biopolttoaine, jonka tuotanto on huomattavasti kasvanut 1980-luvulta lähtien. Tällä hetkellä bioetanolia tuotetaan etupäässä ruoantuotannon kanssa kilpailevista sokeri- ja tärkkelyspitoisista viljelykasveista, mutta niin kutsuttujen toisen sukupolven biopolttoaineiden tuotanto olisi ihmiskunnan ja maapallon kannalta kestävämmällä pohjalla. Toisen sukupolven bioetanolia valmistetaan kasvi- ja puupohjaisesta jätemateriaalista, kuten maa- ja metsätalouden sekä elintarviketeollisuuden jätteistä. Aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa hyväksi lignoselluloosan ja puuperäisten jätteiden hajottajaksi ja monipuoliseksi entsyymien tuottajaksi tunnistettu, valkolahottajiin kuuluva kääpämäinen kantasieni rusorypykkä Phlebia radiata kykenee samanaikaiseen kiinteän kasvualustan hajotukseen ja etanolifermentaatioon. Tämän vuoksi rusorypykän etanolin tuottoa ja siihen liittyviä perusaineenvaihduntareittejä haluttiin tutkia tarkemmin. Sienen rihmastoa kasvatettiin jätelignoselluloosamateriaaleilla hapettomiksi muuttuvissa fermentaatio-olosuhteissa. Etanolin tuoton ja kasvualustan pilkkoutumisen lisäksi tutkittiin käänteistranskription kvantitatiivisella PCR-reaktiolla lignoselluloosan hajotukseen ja etanolifermentaatioon liittyviä entsyymejä koodaavia geenejä ja näiden geenien ilmentymistä eri kasvuaikapisteissä. Tulosten perusteella havaittiin rusorypykän tuottavan noin 13,5 massa-% etanolia kasvualustan hiilihydraattien sokeripitoisuuden perusteella lasketusta teoreettisesta maksimiarvosta. Lignoselluloosan hajotukseen ja etanolin fermentointiin oleellisesti liittyvien entsyymien geenit ilmentyivät kasvatusten aikana jätelignoselluloosalla tilastollisesti merkitsevin eroin eri aikapisteissä, mikä osoitti hajotustoiminnan, rihmaston kasvun ja etanolin tuoton olevan muuttuvia ja toisiinsa vaikuttavia prosesseja. Sieni pystyi hyödyntämään kiinteää kasvualustaansa irrottaen siitä käyttöönsä sokereita. Rihmaston kasvusta ja elävästä sienibiomassasta viitteitä antavaa ergosterolia havaittiin koko kuukauden pituisen kasvatuksen ajan. Lisäksi kaasukehässä havaittiin odotettuja fermentaatiomuutoksia, kuten hiilidioksidin kertymistä, ja happikaasu oli neljässä viikossa lähes kulutettu loppuun. Tulosten perusteella rusorypykkä osoittautui tehokkaaksi jätelignoselluloosan pilkkojaksi ja kestäväksi etanolin tuottajaksi. RNA-eristys kiinteältä kasvualustalta sekä aineenvaihduntageenien ilmentymisen analysointi RT-qPCR-menetelmällä mahdollistivat rusorypykän transkriptomin jatkotutkimuksen geenien säätelyn selvittämiseksi fermentoivissa ja lähes hapettomissa olosuhteissa.

Runsas väkilannoitetypen käyttö kasvien typen tarpeen tyydyttämiseksi ja runsaampien satojen saamiseksi sekä karjatalouden keskittyminen tietyille alueille, ovat lisänneet maataloudesta aiheutuvaa typen vesistökuormitusta. Lisääntynyt ympäristötietoisuus on kuitenkin nostanut kestävyyden ja ilmastoviisaan ruoantuotannon osaksi maatalouden tavoitteita, mikä on lisännyt eloperäisten tai kierrätysaineista valmistettujen tai yhteiskunnan sivuvirroista valmistettujen maanparannusaineiden käyttöä. Maanparannusaineina käytettävien tuotteiden kenttä on laaja ja niiden vaikutukset moninaiset, mutta biohiilestä on etsitty ratkaisua liukoisen nitraatin (NO3-) ympäristökuorman vähentämiseksi. Tämän maisterintutkielman tavoitteena oli kartoittaa kahden kaupallisen biohiilen sekä synteettisen hiilipolymeerin vaikutusta nitraatin pidättymiseen, ja toisaalta pidättymisen vaikutusta nitraatin käyttökelpoisuuteen kasveille. Tutkimus koostui kahdesta osasta, josta ensimmäisessä osassa tutkittiin maanparannusaineiden kykyä pidättää maanparannusaineisiin esimuhitettua nitraattia peräkkäisten uuttojen avulla. Toinen osa koostui kasvatuskokeesta, jossa tarkasteltiin maanparannusaineisiin mahdollisesti pidättyneen nitraatin käyttökelpoisuutta ohralle kasvin kasvun ja klorofyllipitoisuuksien avulla. Uuttokokeen perusteella saksanpähkinänkuoresta valmistettu biohiili (Biohiili 1) osoitti kykyä pidättää nitraattia, koska kahden ensimmäisen uuton aikana biohiilestä ei vapautunut käytännössä lainkaan esimuhituksessa lisätystä nitraatista. Sen sijaan kuusesta valmistettu biohiili (Biohiili 2) ja hiilipolymeeri vapauttivat merkittävästi ja asteittain vähemmän nitraattia peräkkäisissä uutoissa. Kolmen peräkkäisen uuton jälkeen Biohiili 1:sta uuttui vain 1,8 % esimuhituksessa lisätystä typestä, kun taas Biohiili 2:sta uuttui 80 %. Hiilipolymeerillä uuttuneen nitraatin määrä oli yli 100 %, josta osa NO3-N oli peräisin itse tuotteesta. Kasvatuskokeen perusteella typpi ei todennäköisesti ollut ohrien kasvua rajoittava tekijä, ja vaikka Hiilipolymeeri sisälsi itsessään merkittävästi enemmän epäorgaanista typpeä, se ei johtanut korkeam-paan biomassaan. Erot ohrien biomassan ja klorofyllin kehityksessä liittyvät todennäköisimmin muihin ympäristötekijöihin. Mahdollisia selityksiä ovat fysikaalis-kemialliset erot kasvualustassa, mukaan lukien kasvualustan pH (biohiilillä emäksinen ja Hiilipolymeerillä hapan), irtotiheys ja huokoisuus, mutta lisäksi kesällä 2021 koettu poikkeuksellisen kuuma sää vaikutti todennäköisesti myös ohran kasvuun. Biohiilet ovat potentiaalisia maanparannusaineita vähentämään maataloudesta aiheutuvaa typen ympäristökuormitusta, ilman että ne vaikuttavat kasveille käyttökelpoisen typen määrään merkittävästi. Biohiilen valmistuksessa käytetty raaka-aine sekä valmistusprosessi vaikuttavat kuitenkin merkittävästi lopulliseen tuotteeseen, minkä vuoksi tarvitaan lisää tutkimusta ominaisuuksista, jotka vaikuttavat nitraatin pidättymisen tehokkuuteen.

Biokaasulaitos tuottaa biokaasua energiakäyttöön ja mädätettä lannoitteeksi kasvintuotantoon. Biokaasulaitos on täten monipuolinen tuotanto- ja kierrätyslaitos. Tavanomainen energian- ja lannoitteiden tuotanto on hyvin energiaintensiivistä ja uusiutumattomia energianlähteitä käyttävää. Biokaasulaitos mahdollistaa hajautetun energiantuotannon ja lannoitteiden tuottamisen uusiutuvista raaka-aineista, monesti raaka-aineista jotka olisivat muuten jätteeksi luokiteltavaa. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus oli selvittää, mitä Suomessa toimivissa biokasulaitoksissa käytetään syötteinä, kuinka paljon biokaasua saadaan tuotettua, millaisia ovat mädätteen ravinnepitoisuudet ja kuinka viljelijät käyttävät mädätettä pelloilla. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin myös, millainen olisi ideaali biokaasulaitoksen toiminta kaasuntuoton, mädätteen jatkokäytön ja laitoksen toiminnan kannalta. Kuinka biokaasuntuotantoa voitaisiin Suomessa lisätä ja parantaa energia- ja ravinneomavaraisuutta? Tarkoitus oli kerätä tietoa sekä keskitetysti toimivilta biokaasulaitoksilta että maatilojen omilta biokaasulaitoksilta. Tavoitteena oli vertailla eri laitosten antamia tietoja ja selvittää millaisia eroja laitoksista löytyy. Tutkimus toteutettiin internetpohjaisena kyselynä. Kyselypohjia oli kaksi: toinen biokaasulaitoksille ja toinen maatiloille, joilla joko oli oma biokaasulaitos tai tilalla oli joskus käytetty mädätettä lannoitteena. Yhteensä vastaajia kertyi 14 kappaletta. Mädätteiden pääravinnepitoisuuksissa oli eroja, vaihteluväli oli 2,8-16 ja keskiarvo 6,47 kokonaistypen osalta. Niissä mädätteissä, joissa oli korkea kokonaistyppipitoisuus, oli myös korkea kokonaisfosforipitoisuus (R2=0,56; p=0,013). Tuloksista ei voi tehdä selkeitä johtopäätöksiä sen suhteen, mikä tai mitkä olisivat parhaita syöteaineita. Syöteaineet olivat vaihtelevia, ja samanlaatuisilla syöteaineilla kaasuntuotanto ja mädätteen laatu erosivat kahdella eri laitoksella.

The aim of this master thesis was to evaluate suitability of a biogas plant as a manure maintenance method in a kind of a horse village, where many horse businesses are located close to each other. The suitability of the biogas plant was evaluated by ecological and economic effects. For ecological effects the investigation was made concerning nitrogen and phosphorus flows and for economic effects an evaluation was made concerning the total profitability of the biogas plant. Nitrogen and phosphorus flows were investigated by substance flow analysis. The evaluation was made by investigating internal flows, flows inside and outside of the system and the size of the flows of two systems in which one system was a horse village with a biogas plant and the other system was a horse village without a biogas plant. The horse village without the biogas plant was further divided into two options. One option was to spread the manure on fields and the other option was to hand over the manure. The economic profitability was evaluated by gross margin calculation concerning four different options which were a biogas plant producing CHP with and without financial support and a biogas plant producing fuel with and without financial support. Concerning nitrogen and phosphorus flows, the horse village where the manure is spread on fields is as good option as where the manure is being processed on a biogas plant and where the digested sludge is used for fertilizer as well. Handing over the manure outside the horse village is a worse option in relation to the local substances flow cycle. The construction of the biogas plant in horse village was profitable in every options. Although manure processed by biogas plant is evaluated to produce less nutrient loss compared to manure which is spread straight to the field, there still is a need for further investigation about the effects of biogas production on nutrient flows and nutrient losses in order to model the effects of a horse village. However, according to previous investigations it is known that biogas production decrease greenhouse gas effects. The profitability of biogas plant requires that manure maintenance costs of the horse village have been quite high before the biogas plant.

In Finland, the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel is due to begin in the 2020s. The spent nuclear fuel will be stored in the deep bedrock of Olkiluoto, Eurajoki. Biological sulphate reduction is one of the most significant mechanisms possibly disrupting the integrity of the final disposal concept. Microorganisms living in groundwater may produce sulphide, which induces corrosion of the metallic waste capsules designed for spent nuclear fuel. In addition, metallic waste present in the low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste repository may be subject to corrosion. The rate of biological sulphate reduction in groundwater samples from Olkiluoto and in waters from experimental set-ups was studied with 35SO42- -radiolabel method. Furthermore, effects of supplemental nutrients and incubation time on detected sulphate reduction rates were studied. First, the method was optimised for the oligotrophic, deep groundwaters with low cell numbers. Abundance of marker genes was determined with qPCR, including dissimilatory sulphite reductase gene dsrB (beta subunit) and 16S rRNA gene of bacteria and archaea. Several improvements were made to the sulphate reduction rate measurement method during this thesis work. The method was demonstrated to be applicable for environmental samples. However, statistical matters, such as setting the minimum detection limit, need to be considered separately for each water type studied. Due to low cell numbers of the studied waters, variation between parallel samples was considerable throughout the work. Biological sulphate reduction was detected at various sites in the repository area. Sulphate reduction rates in the studied waters varied from approximately 0 to 1 nmol cm-3 d-1, whereas sulphate reduction rate of reference strain Desulfovibrio desulfuricans was up to 24 nmol cm-3 d-1. Supplemental nutrients and incubation time had variable effects on sulphate reduction rates. Microbial communities were demonstrated to be well-adapted to changing environmental conditions, as they were able to utilise introduced nutrients. Sulphate reduction rates detected in this study were modest. However, as the time scale for nuclear waste disposal is extremely long, estimating microbial metabolism over such period is challenging.

Tiivistelmä/Referat – Abstract The long period of indoor feeding in Finland emphasizes the importance of good quality silage in dairy cow nutrition. Silage additives are used to ensure successful ensiling. Silage inoculants enhance silage lactic acid fermentation when lactic acid bacteria and sometimes enzymes and other fermentative bacteria are added to silage. Lactic acid content has been higher and pH lower in silages treated with inoculant than in silages without any additive. Aerobic stability of silage and total mixed ration (TMR) has been better with silage treated using inoculant compared to silage without additives. In some studies, the digestibility of dry matter and organic matter has been better with inoculant-treated silage. Silage dry matter intake has been improved with silage treated with inoculants in studies performed with dairy cows, growing beef cattle and sheep. Milk yield has increased in some studies with biological additive when compared to silage without additives. The aim of this study was to examine whether ensiling grass silage with biological additive influences feed intake or milk production of dairy cows in comparison to silage without inoculant. The study was conducted at the research farm of University of Helsinki. First cut timothy – meadow fescue sward was cut and wilted for 46 hours. The grass was harvested in round bales wrapped with 8 film layers either using silage inoculant (treatment B, with lactic acid bacteria and enzymes) or without additive (treatment A). A series of five bales of each silage were prepared one after another. The grass had dry matter of 183 g/kg before wilting and 328 g/kg after wilting. Water soluble carbohydrate concentration was 121 g/kg dry matter (DM). The silages were stored for 174 days before the beginning of the feeding trial. There were no differences in silage fermentation quality. Both silages had high concentration of lactic acid (100 g/kg DM). The dry matter contents were 296 and 294 g/kg and pH 4.25 and 4.31 for the inoculated silage and the silage without additive, respectively. Eight Finnish Ayrshire cows (95 days in milk, standard deviation 25.9) of second or later parity were used. The cows were kept in tie stalls during the trial. A double-reversal design was used with two treatments sequences (ABBA or BAAB) of 21 days each. The cows were fed with total mixed ration consisting of 65% (dry matter basis) of silage (inoculated or without additive), 20% of concentrate mixture, 13% rapeseed meal and 1.5% mineral supplement. Dry matter intake was 1,1 kg/d higher with the inoculated silage (p=0.01) than with untreated silage. Digestibility of dietary dry matter (p=0.02) and organic matter (p=0.02) was lower with inoculated than untreated silage. There was no difference in milk production between treatments (p=0.65). This study indicates that good fermentation quality of wilted (DM 300 g kg) grass silage can be achieved without additives. The increased dry matter intake or the lower digestibility of the diet containing inoculated silage cannot be explained by the silage composition or fermentation profile.

In recent times climate change, decrease of fossil fuels and increase of their price have greatly increased worldwide interest in renewable energy sources. In Finland, there has been a lot of concentration towards forest industry’s secondary produced wood basis biomass, that forest industry uses for its energy production. Forest industry’s waste water cleaning process creates different kinds of sludge, which are either reused or destroyed by burning or transporting to waste treatment plant. Especially reuse of bio sludge is difficult, and waste area placing in the future is impossible or at least economically too expensive. In practice, sludge is treated by burning, and by drying it becomes a bio fuel. The energy use is the best way to destroy waste sludge. Because of the high water consist of the sludge it must be dried before burning. Drying the sludge with secondary energy flow with waste heat from forest industry processes increases energy income from the burning process and replaces the use of fossil fuels. The goal of this research was to find out the most optimal mixture of bark and sludge by changing different drying parameters. The experimental work was started by building a laboratory size fixed bed dryer for the energy technology experiment hall, where drying was studied by blowing heated air through the fuel layer. The dried fuel material was a mixture of bark and sludge, or just bark or sludge at different masses, different percentage mixtures and different temperatures. Making the drying curves was based on weight changes. In the test rig were probes for controlling and setting the temperature as the experiment expected. The temperature and weight changes were recorded to computer during the experiment. The drying experiments showed that sludge-bark mixture dries well, when the percentage of the sludge mass doesn’t increase over 50 %. When the share of sludge is higher, drying is no longer effective, which is due to channelling of the air through the dried fuel material in the fixed bed dryer. When drying the bark, increase of the temperature from 50 °C to 70 °C was much more effective than from 70 °C to 90 °C, the difference in drying time was about doubled.

Gas permeabilities of films used in food packaging must be well known to ensure the best conditions for packed food products. In addition to oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability as such their ratio affects the choice of packaging materials. The CO2/O2 ratio of petroleum derived plastics is normally under 6:1 but that of bio-based films is less known. The literature review of this study focused on different sources of bio-based raw-materials and their chemical structure. The aim of the experimental study was to measure oxygen and carbon dioxide permeabilities of different bio-based films and to identify the CO2/O2 ratio. Another point of interest was the realiability of used carbon dioxide permeation analyzer which was assembled from an old oxygen permeation analyzer and gas chromatography. Three of the used film types were prepared in laboratory scale from Konjac glucomannan, starch and hydroxypropyl starch with 10 % or 40 % of sorbitol (of the dry matter) due to a reduction of porosity of materials. Other bio-based films were obtained from VTT (cellulose nanofibrils, hydroxypropyl xylan, cellulose derivative, cellophane and polyglycolic acid). Almost all the films had low oxygen permeabilities (OP<2.8 [cm3 µm]/[m2 d kPa]) and replicate results did not vary much. The cellulose derivative films had higher OP of 120 (cm3 µm)/(m2 d kPa). The carbon dioxide permeabilities showed more variation and were clearly higher (CO2P was 0 to 978 [cm3 µm]/[m2 d kPa]). In addition films including 40 % of sorbitol leaked more often. The ratio of CO2/O2 varied between 7:1–329:1. Most of the measured bio-based films are suitable for packaging food products, whose preservation depends on the permeability of carbon dioxide through the packaging more than that of oxygen. Excellent applications can be found among fruits and vegetables, whose maturing have to be controlled during storage. High CO2/O2 ratios were due to rather different chemical structures of the studied bio-based films and therefore the determination of a definite CO2/O2 ratio was not possible (unlike with petroleum based films). The magnitude of carbon dioxide permeabilities were similar to those reported in literature but further research with the assembled analyzer is needed to ensure its realiability.