Browsing by discipline "Ympäristöekonomia"
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(2012)The environmental impacts of food production and consumption are substantial, and therefore, it’s important that their impacts are investigated and communicated. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one promising method to assess the environmental impacts of products, like food products. It’s a process to assess products' environmental impacts through their life-cycle, and it’s used, for example, in policy making, companies’ strategic decision making and when communicating products’ environmental impacts. LCA is used actively nowadays, for example, over the past year few Finnish food companies have decided to calculate and communicate their products’ carbon footprints using LCA. LCA methodology has clearly developed during the past decades. However, there isn’t a shared view on all of the methodological issues. In fact, one essential methodological challenge is allocation situation. In allocation situation all inputs and outputs, such as, green house gas emissions produced in the product system are to be distributed between the studied product and its co-products. For instance, when the studied product is milk it should be determined how the inputs and outputs produced in the dairy cattle farm are to be divided between the farm’s products: beef and raw milk. Furthermore, in the dairy factory it needs to be decided how the inputs and outputs are to be divided between the further processed milk and other dairy products produced in the factory. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the allocation situations in the LCAs of food, as well as, to present, compare and find weaknesses and strengths of different ways of handling allocation situations and ways of guiding them. This is done in a literature study and in a LCA case-study made for Finnish farmed rainbow trout. It was calculated that the choice of how to handle the allocation situation has a major impact on the environmental impacts directed to the product under investigation. For example, climate change impacts and eutrophication of water bodies caused by production of a trout fillet can halve or double depending on the choice of the allocation method. Several different allocation methods were indentified, including ways to avoid allocation and ways to allocate the inputs and outputs, for instance, on the basis of the products' prices. To improve the harmonization of food LCAs and to reduce subjectivity it is important that there is guidance when choosing the allocation method. However, the existing LCA guides investigated don’t give enough support for the allocation situations. They provide divergent instructions and recommendations; they aren’t very specific in the allocation instructions and they allow choosing almost any allocation method, and therefore there is clear need for more specific instructions. Thus, it is evident that there is need to discuss and agree on the suitability of allocation methods to be used in LCAs of different food products. Also, because of the existing uncertainty one should be really careful when communicating exact environmental impacts, instead, one should consider presenting environmental impacts in a more coarse scale, for example, by presenting the scale of the results when using different allocation methods.
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(2020)In this thesis the changed paradigm of international climate policy from negotiated top-down targets of the Kyoto era to the new, Paris Agreement bottom-up mitigation contributions, NDCs is introduced. NDCs are submitted to the UNFCCC on the basis of what countries consider as their fair share of efforts in line with global warming targets, equity considerations and national circumstances. This means that normative decisions on fairness need to be made when selecting a long-term target required by the Paris Agreement. For this purpose, a framework was developed for considering some of the key issues that emerge in examining long-term climate policy. Different equity measures exist for assessing fairness, of which Equality, Ability to Pay and Historic Responsibility were selected as the ones to consider, since they are the most unambiguous as formulas and are the most prevalent in carbon budget allocation studies. The Paris Agreement temperature targets can be calculated into carbon budgets, of which the most recent IPCC estimation for the 1.5 degree budget was selected and subsequent global emissions subtracted from. To be able to consider all sources and sinks of GHGs, the carbon budgets are applied GHG budgets instead of purely carbon budgets and all emissions and sinks reported in national GHG inventories are included, which are reported in line with IPCC 2006 guidelines. While not a completely accurate utilisation of the carbon budget, this approach is sufficient for examining climate policy ambition. The equity calculations for allocating the GHG budget to countries for the period of 2020-2050 produced an emissions reduction pathway while the land-use sector net sink was kept fixed according to the historical average with an illustrative pathway for required additional emissions removals. These results were presented in graphs, and key figures pointed out, such as the mitigation rate, the year GHG neutrality occurs, what the 2050 end result is as a reduction of emissions compared to 1990, and at what rate emissions removals are required to increase. The goal of suggesting a long-term climate policy target in line with climate science, equity and 1.5 global carbon budget was successful in part; all the set conditions were successfully applied and a calculation alongside a demonstrative graph with specific key targets was produced. However, some of the results were unrealistic for applying to real life conditions, such as the amount of emissions removals required in some cases. Mitigation rates, which were fixed as linear, were very drastic in some cases, which might not be possible in present conditions. Contrary to what initially was set out to discover, GHG neutrality targets to be achieved in the 2030s for most cases transpire as the most significant result. GHG neutrality is however only a milestone toward a long-term target, which based on these case studies is a significantly over 100% emissions reduction target.
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(2016)Tutkielman tekemisessä oli kolme tavoitetta: 1) selventää cleantechin määritelmää ja tilastointia, 2) hahmottaa Suomen cleantech-toimialan rakennetta ja nykytilaa ja 3) määritellä kasvun esteitä ja parannuskeinoja. Tutkielma tehtiin osana Suomen ilmastopaneelin cleantech-hanketta, jossa selvitetään Suomen cleantech-alan kokonaistaloudellisia vaikutuksia. Osana tutkielmaa haastateltiin kymmentä cleantech-alan asiantuntijaa eri organisaatioista. Cleantechin määritelmä on sen syntyajoista asti ollut hyvin epäselvä. Hieman erilaisia määritelmiä on valtavasti eikä asiasta ole syntynyt tarkkaa konsensusta. Tiettyjä yhtäläisyyksiä on kuitenkin havaittavissa. Cleantech on vaihtoehtojaan tehokkaampaa ja siten säästää luonnonvaroja ja aiheuttaa vähemmän päästöjä. Cleantech ei itsessään ole oma sektori vaan se levittäytyy perinteisten sektorien läpi. Cleantech-termi tunnistetaan maailmalla hyvin, mutta sen epäselvyys vähentää termin käyttöä. Suomen cleantech-ala on jatkanut vahvaa kasvuaan taantumasta huolimatta. Metalliteollisuus on pysynyt selvästi tärkeimpänä alana ja varsinkin viennissä sen osuus on erittäin merkittävä. Teollisuustoimialat ovat kuitenkin kärsineet heikosta kilpailukyvystä ja globaalin kysynnän heikkenemisestä. Teollisuuden notkahdusta ovat kuitenkin paikanneet palvelut ja rakentaminen. Suomen cleantech-alan yrityskenttä poikkeaa selvästi muista yrityksistä. Cleantech-yritykset ovat keskimäärin isompia ja selvästi suurempi osa yrityksistä toimii teollisuudessa. Huolestuttavaa on, että kasvun kannalta tärkeällä pk-sektorilla on ollut ongelmia kannattavuudessa. Uusimmat barometrit tosin luovat kuvan käänteestä parempaan. Cleantechin kasvua ylläpitää taustalla vaikuttavat megatrendit kuten ilmastonmuutos, väestönkasvu ja ympäristötietoisuuden nousu. Tärkeimpänä ajurina on kuitenkin yhä regulaatio, joka luo markkinat ja kysyntää cleantech-tuotteille. Tulevaisuudessa tärkeitä aloja ovat esimerkiksi veden- ja ilmanlaadun ongelmiin keskittyvät teknologiat, datan käsittely ja hallinta sekä energiatehokkuus. Heikot kotimarkkinat ovat merkittävä este cleantech-toiminnalle. Tärkeitä kotimaan referenssejä hankaloittaa kotimarkkinoiden pienuus ja tämänhetkinen heikko taloustilanne. Rahoitus on esteenä lähinnä pienillä yrityksillä ja varsinkin viennin edistämiseen tarvitaan lisäresursseja. Julkisilla hankinnoilla on merkittävää potentiaalia cleantech-toimijoille, mutta tähän asti kokemuksia on vähän. Hankinnoissa on keskitytty hinnan tarkasteluun muiden osatekijöiden kustannuksella.
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(2010)Agriculture’s contribution to climate change is controversial as it is a significant source of greenhouse gases but also a sink of carbon. Hence its economic and technological potential to mitigate climate change have been argued to be noteworthy. However, social profitability of emission mitigation is a result from factors among emission reductions such as surface water quality impact or profit from production. Consequently, to value comprehensive results of agricultural climate emission mitigation practices, these co-effects to environment and economics should be taken into account. The objective of this thesis was to develop an integrated economic and ecological model to analyse the social welfare of crop cultivation in Finland on distinctive cultivation technologies, conventional tillage and conservation tillage (no-till). Further, we ask whether it would be privately or socially profitable to allocate some of barley cultivation for alternative land use, such as green set-aside or afforestation, when production costs, GHG’s and water quality impacts are taken into account. In the theoretical framework we depict the optimal input use and land allocation choices in terms of environmental impacts and profit from production and derive the optimal tax and payment policies for climate and water quality friendly land allocation. The empirical application of the model uses Finnish data about production cost and profit structure and environmental impacts. According to our results, given emission mitigation practices are not self-evidently beneficial for farmers or society. On the contrary, in some cases alternative land allocation could even reduce social welfare, profiting conventional crop cultivation. This is the case regarding mineral soils such as clay and silt soils. On organic agricultural soils, climate mitigation practices, in this case afforestation and green fallow give more promising results, decreasing climate emissions and nutrient runoff to water systems. No-till technology does not seem to profit climate mitigation although it does decrease other environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the data behind climate emission mitigation practices impact to production and climate is limited and partly contradictory. More specific experiment studies on interaction of emission mitigation practices and environment would be needed. Further study would be important. Particularly area specific production and environmental factors and also food security and safety and socio-economic impacts should be taken into account.
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(2017)The incomplete global coverage of current emissions trading schemes has raised concerns about free-riding and carbon leakage. EU ETS, the first and currently the biggest carbon market, is at the fore of such fears. Carbon-based import tariffs have thereby been proposed to compensate domestic industries for the cost disadvantage against their rivals in non-regulating countries. This thesis uses an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model to assess the impacts of a hypothetical EU carbon tariff on the Finnish economy. The carbon content of imported goods is first estimated with an environmentally extended input-output analysis, and the tariff is levied according to the anticipated price of EU emission allowances. To examine the sensitivity of the results, five additional scenarios are then constructed by altering the key simulation parameters. The tariff is imposed on the most energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries in 2016 and simulated until 2030. The results suggest that carbon tariffs are detrimental to the Finnish economy. The negative outcome is determined by high material intensity and a growing dependence on imported materials throughout the industry sector. As a result, the tariff-induced increase in import prices adds up to a notable growth in total production costs. Moreover, the negative impact is most pronounced within the export-oriented heavy manufacturing sector that the tariff was designed to shelter in the first place. The few sectors that gain from the tariff were not directly subject to it, but utilize the secondary impacts as the economy adapts to the shock. The findings imply that due to the deeper integration of global value chains, the appeal of protective tariffs, even if environmentally motivated, can be harmfully over-simplistic.
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(2018)Companies play a crucial role in transitions to more sustainable ways of production and consumption. There is a growing amount of startups globally that create radically new products, services, and business models related to issues such as energy efficiency, food waste or use of natural resources. Startups can be conceptualized as niche actors who are innovative and agile but do not have the resources for regime disruption. Incumbents on traditional fields such as construction, real estate or retail, on the other hand, tend to be path dependent, work under the rules of current regimes, and face difficulties in adopting sustainability-related innovations. However, when combining the innovation capacity of niche startups and the resources of large companies, both can achieve a larger impact. This thesis observes collaboration between startups and large companies through the framework of strategic niche management (SNM). According to SNM niche innovations can be empowered by three processes: articulation of expectations, network-building and learning on various dimensions. A multiple-case study is conducted based on interviews and observation with three large companies and three startups engaging in experimental collaboration processes facilitated by an intermediary organization. The large companies are in the field of retail and hospitality, housing development and facility management. The startups develop radically new services that reduce food waste, save energy or optimize the use of buildings. The findings of the descriptive case study depict challenges and opportunities of collaboration processes in all SNM dimensions. Theoretically, the study suggests one way of applying transition theory to the level of specific companies and their collaboration related to sustainability-related innovations. From a managerial perspective, the study offers practical insight to anyone engaging in startup–incumbent collaboration. As broad generalizations cannot be derived from a case study, more research on the role of companies in sustainability transitions is suggested.
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(2019)Abstract The demand for land and wood products is increasing at alarming rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. The sustainable forest plantations are becoming a solution to meet the demand and reduce the pressure of natural forest logging. The Forest Stewardship Council certification ensure the sustainability of the forest companies. The certification is unpopular in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of information of costs and benefits, discourage the implementation of the certification. The aim of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the financial basis of FSC certification for forest plantation company in Sub-Saharan Africa. The literature review and interview with the companies revealed the cost and benefit components of the certification. The data questionnaire was performed to have actual values from the companies. The data questionnaire includes pre-certification costs, annual certification period costs and benefits. I managed to have information of three plantation from two companies, the Miro Ghana and Sierra Leone and New Forest Company Tanzania plantations. The analysis is based on cost and benefit analysis principles. The equation counts pre-certification costs, and discounts annual certification period costs and benefits to present time. The timeline for this study is 30 years. The results show that the FSC certification benefits outweighs the costs in two cases out of three. The net-present value of the certification is 393US$/Ha for Miro Ghana, 555US$/Ha for Miro Sierra Leone and -1053US$/Ha for New Forest Company Tanzania. The most important components are the price premium, annual labor costs and annual infrastructure maintenance cost. The forest plantation companies should certify their operation, if they are able to enter markets where price premium occurs. The future research should include the costs and benefits of certification to society and environment, to have information of social costs and benefits.
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(2014)This thesis studies the current level of environmental management in the Ship Power business division within Wärtsilä corporation and aims to identify the related development needs. Hitherto environmental management has been mainly coordinated at the corporate level and implemented in local companies distributed geographically. Due to the recent organizational changes, however, the significance of division level environmental management in Ship Power has increased. The research goal is approached by examining the central elements of corporate environmental management and the challenges that the organizational structure places for it. Based on the findings, suggestions for further actions are given in order to develop the environmental management in Ship Power. Empirical data was collected through 35 qualitative interviews with Wärtsilä employees from different functions, business lines, and local companies in order to get a comprehensive view of environmental management in the Ship Power related activities. The interviews were semi-structured in order to provide answers for certain areas of concern, but also to enable the disclosure of topics not defined by the interviewer. The data is categorized into themes according to the theoretical background, and its analysis is based on inductive reasoning. Based on the findings, the environmental management in Ship Power is divided into two dimensions. The product-related environmental questions are handled in the business lines and the operational issues in the local companies. This fragmentation of the environmental knowledge causes inconsistent environmental focus at different organizational levels, and creates challenges to information sharing across the organization. The lack of corporate instructions on the environmental management system implementation has led to diverse practices in the local companies, and the lack of standardized documentation makes the internal comparison between them difficult. Therefore the experience gained from the local management systems does not support organizational learning throughout the corporation. While the product-related environmental aspects are the core of the business strategy, more attention could be paid to operational environmental management in Ship Power. For instance, the sharing of environmental knowledge could be strengthened in order to enhance employee awareness of the corporate practices and to facilitate the discussion of the best practices between the local units. A standardized documentation system would facilitate internal benchmarking and provide a means for centralized environmental performance follow-up. Because the local management systems are not sufficient to cover the global business processes, it would also be important to identify the environmental aspects in the Ship Power division. Furthermore, visible communication of the common environmental targets would help to create consistent environmental focus in Ship Power.
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(2020)The SAVE gypsum pilot project investigated the suitability of gypsum amendment as a new means of agricultural water protection in cooperation with local farmers. The participating farmers acted not only as testers of the method, but also as co-developers, whose expertise, observations and experience were used as part of the effort to produce a new cost-effective, widely accepted method of water protection from gypsum. The study investigated the factors that influenced the participation of farmers in the pilot project developing a new potential water protection method and, on the other hand, the factors that influenced their acceptance of gypsum amendment. The results tell about the acceptance of the method from the point of view of future users and about which factors in the method are relevant for farmers. The information helps in the evaluation, development, furthering and marketing of the method. The thesis was based on research related co-creation of innovations and acceptance of new agri-environmental methods. The material of the study was the answers of the farmers' surveys of the SAVE gypsum project. The surveys were conducted for three consecutive winters, beginning in December 2016 and ending in January 2019. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, logistic regression analysis and cross-tabulation (χ² test and McNemar test). According to the results, the main reasons for participating in the pilot were related to the improvement of the environmental reputation of the Finnish agricultural sector, curiosity about the effects of gypsum and the opportunity to promote water protection and related research. These factors, as well as the desire to strengthen Finnish agriculture, the sense of responsibility and the sense of community of farmers, also best predicted the acceptance of the method for reasons of participation. Positive factors in approving the method were the perception of local people's positive attitude towards the method, the experience of gypsum as an easy method for water protection, and the fact that the farmer was not concerned about the effects of gypsum on field condition and productivity or the surrounding environment.
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(2014)Fishing vessels run on fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases, which are harmful to the environment and costly to society. Since fuel use in fisheries is often subsidized through tax concessions, private fuel consumption will be higher than what is socially optimal. Furthermore,fuel tax concessions will lead to greater fishing effort, with overfishing as a possible consequence. This thesis deals with these negative externalities associated with fisheries. The aim of the study is to elicit the economic and environmental effects fromremoving fuel tax concessions, and to view these effects in relation to the results of current and optimal fisheries management.To this end, four different fuel costscenarios are introducedas basis for the analysis.The current situation of the fishery is compared to an optimized fishery with fuel tax concessions maintained andremoved, i.e. with fuel costs implemented. The target of the studyis thecommercial Baltic salmon fishery, which is a small-scale coastal fishery carried out with trapnets. The analysis employs a bioeconomic model, which accounts for the economic and biological features of this specific fishery. Results from the analysis conveyed that the fishery is currently unprofitable, and therefore not capable of coping withadditional costsimposed on it. However, results from the optimization suggest that economic performance can be improvedby managing the fishery in an optimal way, i.e. by adjustingthe fishing effort to an efficient level. Furthermore, amovement to optimal management is suggested to be an efficient way of gaining both economic and environmental benefits. An optimally managed fishery is thus better equipped to pay for the external costs fromtheCO2 emissions arising from its fishing operations.
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(2017)Biodiversity degrades at an alarming rate, both globally and in Finland. Habitat loss is the most significant threat for biodiversity. Biodiversity offsets (also called ecological compensation) are becoming a common market-based policy instrument, aimed at balancing economic development and conservation of ecosystems and species. Offsets are designed to compensate for the residual environmental impacts of development projects, after avoiding and minimizing impacts on site. The idea is that costs of conservation are allocated to the party responsible for habitat degradation, thus a polluter pays principle is implemented. Offsets complement the pre-existing conservation instruments. Ecological risks as well as the theoretical and practical challenges of offsetting are widely discussed in literature but economic analysis on biodiversity offsetting schemes is limited to few. The aim of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the economic basis of biodiversity offset markets and in particular, the influence of trading ratios and intermediaries. I developed an equilibrium model, and applied it to Finnish data and three selected habitat types: abundant mires, scarce herb-rich forests, and laborious and valuable rural biotopes. The supply of offsets comes from habitat restoration and nature management. Data on the areas suitable for habitat restoration, restoration measures and associated costs were obtained from several documented sources. I utilized the results of the working group on improving the status of habitats in Finland (ELITE, Kotiaho et al. 2015), and supplemented it with an expert survey that I designed to estimate the changes in the selected habitat types after restoration and management under uncertainties. I used Monte Carlo simulation to examine the impacts and risks of uncertainties. Further, I estimated demand based on a report by Tiitu et al. (2015) where they predict the increase of built-up areas and infrastructure in Finland for a time period of 2013-2040. I examined how the market equilibrium, prices, and quantities traded depended on trading ratios. Trading ratios differ depending on whether biodiversity losses from development are ecologically equivalent to gains from compensation or not. I also examined the role of an intermediary, a broker firm. The intermediary helps demanders and suppliers meet each other with minimal transaction costs, safeguards against risks and guarantees maturity and quality of offsets. The analysis showed that the presence of the intermediary affects the trading ratios as there is a time delay between losses and gains which must be discounted to present time if the intermediary is not in the market guaranteeing mature offsets. Time discounting further increases trading ratios. The results show that the market size could be considerable and providing offsets could be a profitable business for landowners. There is enough land for compensations in Finland, even when trading ratios are relatively high. The presence of the intermediary in the market decreases both the trading ratios and credit prices, which lowers the costs of compensation for developers. Both ecological and economic risks may decrease as the intermediary safeguards against failures in restoration by guaranteeing that all offsets provide good quality. Pricing these services in the market does not excessively increase offset prices and shrink the market size.
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(2014)The objective of this study is to assess the willingness to pay of the Finnish public for improvements in the ecological status of the Gulf of Finland using the choice experiment method (CE). The change in the status of the environment is described with four attributes that contribute to the provision of ecosystem services in the Baltic Sea: (1) the populations of key species (including species of mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates and plants), (2) the visibility of the key species, (3) the intensity and duration of algal blooms, and (4) possibilities for recreational fishing. The study considers moderate and substantial improvement scenarios resulting from a range of management measures proposed under the marine strategy framework directive (MSFD), and estimates the accruing benefits with multinomial logit and random parameters logit models. The results of the study show that significant benefits could occur for the Finns if improvements in the environmental status of the Gulf of Finland are achieved. Reduction in algal blooms was found to be most important to the respondents followed closely by improvements in the populations of key species. The third most important attribute was the recreational fishing possibilities, while significantly smaller willingness to pay values was estimated on the visibility of key species. This thesis is conducted within the European Union funded ODEMM project. The overall aim of the project is to develop management options and operational procedures to help in achieving the objectives of the MSFD and implementing ecosystem based marine management.
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(2017)Ruoan tuotannolla on merkittävä vaikutus luonnonvarojen käyttöön, ympäristöön ja talouteen. Ruoan tuotannon ekotehokkuuden kehittämisen olisi hyvä saada käyntiin yhteistoiminnallisesti läpi koko elintarvikejärjestelmän. Elinkaariarvioinnilla (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA) pystytään tarkastelemaan elintarvikeketjua kokonaisvaltaisemmin ja kehittämään sitä vuorovaikutteisesti. Alkutuotannolla on elintarvikeketjun toimijoista merkittävin rooli resurssien käytössä ja siten ympäristövaikutusten muodostumisessa mistä syystä parannustoimenpiteiden tulisi kohdistua erityisesti alkutuotantoon. Elinkaariarviointi tulisi perustua todelliseen lähtötietoon, jotta se pystyisi tuomaan esille juuri kyseisessä tuotantoketjussa syntyvät ympäristövaikutukset ja parannusmahdollisuudet. Todellista ketjua kuvaavaa tietoa ei ole kuitenkaan juurikaan nyt saatavilla. Edellytykset laadukkaan tiedon tuottamiseksi ja parannustoimenpiteiden suorittamiseksi alkutuotannossa on se, että maatalousyrittäjien tulisi itse lähteä tuota työtä tekemään ja saatava siitä taloudellista hyötyä ainakin työstä koituvat kustannukset kattaakseen.Tämän pro gradu –työn tavoitteena oli selvittää, ovatko maatalousyrittäjät halukkaita tuottamaan ja jakamaan tuotekohtaista ympäristövaikutustietoaan elintarvikeketjussa eteenpäin ja mitkä tekijät selittävät parhaiten halukkuuden todennäköisyyttä. Tavoitteena oli myös pystyä näin määrittämään alustavaa potentiaalista asiakaskohderyhmää MTT:n kehittämälle tiedonhallintajärjestelmälle. Aineisto kerättiin kyselylomakkeella johon vastasi lopulta 128 maatalousyrittäjää. Aineistoa analysoitaessa kävi ilmi, että kannattavinta oli tarkastella vain jakamisen halukkuutta vastauksissa esiintyvien mahdollisten tulkintavirheiden takia sekä sen takia, että jakaminen on myös oleellista, jotta elintarvikeketjun lopputuotteen elinkaarinen ympäristövaikutustieto olisi muodostettavissa. Vielä tarkemmin tässä tutkimuksessa päädyttiin tarkastelemaan maatalousyrittäjien halukkuutta jakaa ilmastovaikutusta kuvaavaa tunnuslukua ketjussa eteenpäin. Ilmastovaikutusta kuvaavan tunnusluvun jakamisen halukkuutta tarkasteltiin binäärisen logistisen regressioanalyysin avulla. Analyysin perusajatuksena on tässä tutkimuksessa löytää malli, joka kuvaa parhaiten maatalousyrittäjän halukkuuden jakaa tietoa ja sitä selittävien tekijöiden välistä suhdetta. Analyysi pyrkii ennustamaan, millä todennäköisyydellä maatalousyrittäjä on halukas jakamaan tietoa eteenpäin ja mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat tähän todennäköisyyteen ja miten suuri niiden vaikutus on. Tuloksista kävi ilmi, että 24 % vastaajista ovat halukkaita jakamaan ilmastovaikutusta kuvaavaa tuotekohtaista tietoaan eteenpäin. Binäärisen logistisen regressiomallin mukaan maatalousyrittäjän todennäköisyyteen olla halukas jakamaan tuotekohtaista ilmastovaikutustietoa ketjussa eteenpäin vaikuttaa useampikin tekijä. Todennäköisyyttä kasvattaa se, että maatalousyrittäjä on luomutuottaja, hänellä on maa- ja metsäalan korkeakoulututkinto ja että hänellä on tilallaan automaattiseen tiedonsiirtoon perustuva tuotannon seuranta. Todennäköisyys halukkuuteen kasvaa myös hänen ympäristöasenteiden myötä ja mitä enemmän hän odottaa saavansa hyötyä elinkaarisesta ympäristövaikutustiedosta tilansa johtamisessa (tuotantonsa tehostamisessa, kustannusten vähentämisessä ja tuotteiden markkinoinnissa). Myös maatalousyrittäjän halukkuus tietää tuotantonsa ja panostensa ympäristövaikutuksista, sekä seurata parannustoimenpiteidensä vaikutuksia ketjun lopputuotteen elinkaarisessa tiedossa, kasvattaa hänen todennäköisyyttään olla halukas jakamaan tuotekohtaista ympäristövaikutustietoa eteenpäin ketjussa. Näiden muuttujien lisäksi myös tähänastiset kokemukset siitä, että tiedon dokumentointi on auttanut tilan liiketoiminnan kehittämisessä, vaikuttaa positiivisesti todennäköisyyteen olla halukas jakamisen tuotekohtaista ympäristövaikutustietoa. Muuttujista vielä positiiviset kokemukset tiedon roolista liiketoiminnan kehittämisessä kasvattaa tilallisen todennäköisyyttä olla halukas jakamaan tuotekohtaista ympäristövaikutustietoaan ketjussa eteenpäin.
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(2010)In Finland energy requirement is high because of the cold climate and long distances. Energy is needed to ensure the welfare and an industrial life’s needs. Energy taxation, emissions trading and subventions are well known political instruments for decreasing energy consumption. Energy efficiency has become a famous policy for reducing energy consumption without lowering the quality of energy services. There have always been critics for the energy efficiency and its consequences among the researchers. It is possible to have improving energy efficiency, while still seeing rises in energy consumption. This phenomenon is known as a rebound effect. If energy consumption rises above the level it would have been without efficiency improvements the phenomena is called backfire effect. The objective of this thesis was to find out how to investigate the rebound-effect, what are the critical factors of it and present the results of the resent empirical studies. Attention has been also in finding out what energy efficiency is, how it appears in economical models and why it is an important research area. The effects of energy efficiency are difficult to allocate between different economic factors. Hence it seems that a computable general equilibrium framework is obvious tool to investigate the rebound effect in the national economy level though it’s quite complicated. The production function and the elasticity of substitution seem to be crucial for the size of the rebound effect in a computable general equilibrium framework. It was observed that when the elasticity of substitution was high, the rebound effect was also high. For this reason the form of production function is crucial, it should be one where the elasticity of substitution is not a constant. Empirical studies have established evidence of the rebound effect but its size varies with different areas, with a different elasticity of substitution and in different time periods. In some scenarios even backfire was observed. None of the cases reach total utility of the efficiency improvements.
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Energiatehokkuusinvestoinnit suomalaisissa yrityksissä : investointeja edistävät ja estävät tekijät (2016)The role of increasing energy efficiency as part of climate goals has become more important in recent years, as it is seen as a cost-effective way of reaching the goals. Multiple studies have shown that even though cost-effective energy efficiency investment opportunities exists firms are not implementing them. This under investment phenomenon is called energy efficiency paradox. This Master´s thesis aims to increase understanding of factors effecting the implementation of energy efficiency investments in Finnish companies. Thus, the purposes of this study is to identify barriers and drivers that have affected the likelihood that energy efficiency investments have been implemented in small or medium size company during the past five years. The Data for the study was collected through a survey spring 2015. The survey was sent in co-operation with Motiva Oy to companies participating in the voluntary energy efficiency agreements and in co-operation with The Federation of Finnish Enterprises to their member companies. The research method was binary logistic regression analysis. As a result of regression analysis two models were produced. The statistically better model was chosen to describe the barriers and drivers that have effected implementation of energy efficiency investments in small or medium size companies during the past five years. The results from the model suggested that the factors increasing the likelihood that energy efficiency investments had been made was larger company size and good energy management. Good energy management includes that concrete objectives for energy efficiency improvements have been made in the company and that an investment will be monitored after implementation. The factors that decrease the likelihood that energy efficiency investments had been made was being in a non-energy intensive industry: construction, service or other industries such as agriculture. The most relevant driving force was good energy management. A Company with good level of energy management is 15 times likelier to have made energy efficiency investments than a company that has no concrete objectives for energy efficiency improvements and/or does not monitor results from energy efficiency investments.
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(2016)Euroopan unionin päästökauppajärjestelmä aiheuttaa siihen osallistuville yrityksille suoria ja epäsuoria kustannuksia. Epäsuorat kustannukset syntyvät siitä, että päästöoikeuden hinta nostaa sähkön hintaa, mikä nostaa erityisesti energiaintensiivisten yritysten tuotantokustannuksia. Euroopan komissio on antamassaan valtiontukisäännössä (2012/C 158/04) linjannut, että jokainen EU:n jäsenvaltio voi kompensoida näitä epäsuoria kustannuksia hiilivuodosta kärsiville energiaintensiivisille toimialoille. Epäsuorien kustannusten kompensaatio on tällä hetkellä käytössä muutamassa EU:n jäsenvaltiossa. Näistä kaikki jakavat epäsuorien kustannusten kompensaation vastikkeettomana rahasummana sitä hakeville ja valtiontukisäännön vaatimukset täyttäville kyseisessä valtiossa toimiville yrityksille. Kompensaation voisi kuitenkin jakaa myös muilla tavoin, esimerkiksi kohdentamalla tuet päästöjä vähentäviin investointeihin. Katson tässä tutkielmassa neljän vaihtoehtoisen kompensaatiomuodon teoreettisia ominaisuuksia. EU:n päästöoikeuden hinta on pysynyt matalana viimeisten vuosien ajan, eikä sillä ole ollut toivottua investointeja ohjaavaa vaikutusta. Päästöoikeuden hinnan vaikutus sähkön hintaan vaihtelee EU:n eri alueilla riippuen siitä, miten paljon fossiilisia polttoaineita käytetään sähköntuotantoon. Päästökaupan epäsuorien kustannusten kompensaatiota valvova valtiontukisääntö ottaa nämä erot huomioon. Analysoin tässä tutkielmassa kuitenkin empiirisesti sitä, miten paljon päästöoikeuden hinnan ja siten sähkön hinnan nousu voi vaikuttaa kahden suomalaisen esimerkkialan tuotantoyksikön voittoon lyhyellä ja pitkällä aikavälillä. Näin pyrin tekemään johtopäätöksiä siitä, mitä päästökaupan epäsuorat kustannukset tehtaiden toiminnalle merkitsevät, ja onko kompensaatio todellisuudessa tarpeellista. Vaikutukset voittoon riippuvat siitä, kuinka suuri tuotannontekijä sähkö tarkasteltavalle yksikölle on ja kuinka vahvasti päästöoikeuden hinta siirtyy sähkön hintaan. Pitkällä aikavälillä yritys pystyy muuttamaan panoskäyttöään ja varautumaan epäsuoriin kustannuksiin, jolloin niiden vaikutus yrityksen voittoon on pienempi kuin lyhyellä aikavälillä. Tämä osoittaa, että pitkäjänteinen ja ennustettava ilmastopolitiikka EU-tasolla pystyy vähentämään yritysten päästökaupasta aiheutuvia kustannuksia. Päästökaupan epäsuorien kustannusten kompensaation tarve riippuu siitä, miten suuri hiilivuotoriskin nähdään olevan. Perusteet kompensaatiolle vähenevät sähköntuotannon fossiilisten polttoaineiden käytön vähenemisen myötä: mitä harvemmin hiili on rajatuotantomuotona, sitä vähemmän päästöoikeuden hinta nostaa sähkön keskimääräistä vuosihintaa. Lisäksi hiilidioksidin hinnoittelu yleistyy globaalisti. Kun päästöjen tuottaminen aiheuttaa kustannuksia teollisuudelle myös Euroopan ulkopuolella, hiilivuotoriski vähenee.
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(2018)Improving energy efficiency has been recognized as a major tool for reducing energy use and emissions. Energy efficiency is most often defined as the ratio of required energy input and resulting output. Accordingly, energy efficiency improves whether less energy input is needed to produce the same output. In the context of building’s energy efficiency, the usual indicator is a specific energy consumption or the so-called energy efficiency index (EEI) which is used to examine energy consumption proportional to building’s surface area or volume. This Master’s thesis was an assignment to HOK Elanto co-op. The aim of this thesis was to examine both the amount of the remaining energy-saving potential in HOK-Elanto retail stores and economic benefits that could be achieved by improving energy efficiency. Economic viability of energy efficiency measures was examined with the net present value method. In addition, the emission reductions achieved through these measures were calculated. Plenty of measures which reduce energy consumption have been recognized to exist in the retail trade sector. In this thesis energy efficiency measures examined were refrigeration system renewals, transition to lighting led-technology and optimization of ventilation. Renewing refrigeration systems is very timely due to F-gas regulation in which is stated that most of the current refrigerants must be replaced with those refrigerants that have smaller global warming potential. In addition to the above-mentioned measures, it was studied when the introduction of solar PV could be profitable in HOK-Elanto's store properties and how much economic benefits would be achieved. The results of this thesis show that there exists 28 GWh of annual energy saving potential which corresponds with annual savings of 2,4 million euros. The biggest savings are achieved through lighting technology changes. Also refrigeration system renewals yield significant energy savings but due to high investment costs, renewals are recommended to implement within the limits set by F-gas regulation as when there is actual need to renew the systems. Optimization of ventilation turned out to be an uncertain energy efficiency measure because the current ventilation units may not be able to operate at such low levels that energy savings could be achieved. Solar PV investments turned out to be unprofitable at this point in time due to relatively low energy prices and high investment costs. Whether only lighting and refrigeration systems are renewed in HOK-Elanto retail stores, energy efficiency level in Alepa and S-market chains will improve approximately by 20 % and in Prisma-chain by 28 %.
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(2018)Maailman väkiluvun kasvaessa on ruuantuotantoa varten otettava käyttöön koko ajan enemmän pinta-alaa maanviljelyyn, rehuntuotantoon ja laidunnukseen. Tämä kehityskulku on kestämättömällä pohjalla ja ratkaisuksi on esitetty hyönteisten kasvattamista teollisen ruuantuotannon raaka-aineeksi. Hyönteissyönti on vasta nouseva trendi mutta trendin kasvu on voimakasta etenkin tällä hetkellä länsimaissa. Etuna hyönteistentuotannossa ovat merkittävästi pienemmät kasvihuonekaasupäästöt ja vedenkulutus sekä huomattavasti tehokkaampi rehuhyötysuhde kuin muilla tuotantoeläimillä. Hyönteisen ravintoarvot ovat myös erilaiset kuin muilla tuotantoeläimillä ja arvoihin voidaan vaikuttaa voimakkaasti. Kotisirkkojen kasvatuksen pilotointi tehtiin tämän lopputyön tiimoilta Etelä-Pohjanmaalaisella maatilalla, joka on tänä päivänä yksi Skandinavian suurimmista hyönteistuotantotiloista laajennuksien jälkeen. Koetilalla koostettiin tulokset laskelman pohjaksi, jolloin päästiin tarkastelemaan tuotannosta muodostuvia kokonaiskustannuksia tässä ensimmäisessä tuotantomallissa. Tämän ohella saatiin muodostettua hyönteistuotannon yhteiskunnalliselle kannattavuudelle lopputulos. Yhden tuotetun kotisirkkakilon kustannukset muodostettiin suhteutetuilla panosten hinnoilla. Käytettyinä panoksina huomioitiin rehun kulutus, lämmityskustannukset ja työvoimakustannus. Yhteiskunnallinen hyöty muodostettiin hyönteisten käytön syrjäyttäessä naudan ja sianlihan kulutusta ja tätä kautta kasvihuonekaasupäästöjä. Kasvihuonekaasupäästöt hinnoiteltiin markkinahintojen mukaan. Ilmastovaikutuksiltaan hyönteistuotantoa rinnastetaan hieman tehokkaammaksi kuin kalojen. Todellinen hyöty yhteiskunnalle muodostuu myös työllisyyden kehittymisen kautta tuotannossa ja prosessiteollisuudessa sekä loppumarkkinoinnissa.
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(2016)Earlier research has shown that it is important in climate change adaptation to take into account the indirect impacts of climate change. These are impacts resulting from climate change that have their initial direct effects outside Finland but reflect to Finland through for example international markets. For example, climate change could affect Finland indirectly through changing prices in global food markets. In this thesis I study the impacts of increasing hydropower potential in the Nordic electricity markets because of climate change. Nordic aspect is important as most of the hydropower in the Nordic power markets is produced outside Finland. Climate science has shown that climate change can affect the precipitation and hydropower potential in the Nordic countries. Majority of studies give reason to believe that the hydropower potential will increase and change so that the potential increases more in winter and spring months. However, a lot of uncertainty is related to the results, which is crucial to bear in mind. According to a Nordic research report it is nevertheless very plausible that climate change will affect the hydrology and hydropower potential in Nordic countries from place to place. Hydropower is an important technology in the Nordic electricity markets as depending on the year about half of the power is produced by it. As hydropower’s producing costs are low the annual precipitation affects the electricity price levels so that in a wet year the prices decrease and vice versa. Hydropower has also its role in balancing the production and consumption of power as its production is comparably easy to adjust. I use a simulation model of the Nordic electricity markets by Maria Kopsakangas-Savolainen and Rauli Svento in this thesis. In my analysis I increase the hydropower production (+10%) and study how it affects i.a. the price level and capacities of different power production technologies. This sensitivity analysis is made in various scenarios resulting from different climate and energy policies. In the thesis’ simplified setting increasing the amount of hydropower decreased significantly the price of electricity and thus profits of electricity producers and decreased the amount of thermal power production. Thermal and nuclear production are important technologies for Finland and thus the results are interesting from the Finnish point of view. The results are in-line with a previous Norwegian study. Another potentially significant impact of climate change might the decreasing electricity consumption due to warmer winters but is out of the scope of this thesis.
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