Finland can meet its ambitious climate goals, but it will take a lot of work. That's the conclusion of a new report by state innovation fund Sitra, Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet reports.
The current Sanna Marin (SDP) government set a target of carbon neutrality by 2035, and for Finland to be "carbon negative" - ie, that the country would absorb more CO2 than it emits - shortly after that.
A key task will be to cut the subsidies that encourage farmers to grow crops on peatland, report co-author Mariko Landström told HBL. At the same time, people should be encouraged to cut back on eating meat so that less land is given over to growing fodder for livestock, she said.
According to HBL, most of agriculture's climate emissions come from peatlands, even though they account for only a tenth of arable land.
With the clock ticking, the "administrative bottlenecks" holding back green energy also need to be addressed, the paper writes.
"For example, wind power is already being expanded without subsidies, but the planning and permitting processes are dragging on," Landström said.
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Tampere first in global Covid drug trial
A Tampere University Hospital (TAYS) patient was the first in the world to enter the second stage of trials of new coronavirus treatments, writes Pirkanmaa local Aamulehti.
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The patient, who joined the trial in early August, has since been joined by over a dozen more from around Finland, said Jarno Rutanen, principal investigator on the WHO Solidarity drug trial at TAYS.
Two drugs, one used to treat leukaemia and the other, infliximab, for rheumatoid arthritis, are the subject of the global trial, Aamulehti writes.
"During the pandemic, it has been observed that rheumatoid patients with Covid-19 who have taken infliximab before becoming ill have had less severe disease than those who have not had this treatment," Rutanen told the paper.
Coronavirus patients hospitalised at TAYS will be able to opt in to the trial, Aamulehti writes. A computer model will randomly select which of the two drugs, infliximab or leukaemia treatment imatinib, they will receive on top of the standard measures.
July tourist numbers break records
Visitor numbers in Central Finland broke all-time records this July, according to local paper Keskisuomalainen.
The vast majority of tourists to the region were domestic travellers, but they came in far greater numbers than last summer, the paper writes.
"Where last year visitors avoided cities, this summer, for example, hotels in Jyväskylä also set records in July. People have been longing for a holiday, and at the beginning of the summer the coronavirus seemed to be receding. After a gloomy winter, we were back to normal," said local tourism board chairman Markus Kallio.
Many businesses were unprepared for the July rush, Keskisuomalainen reports, as some struggled to find staff.
"The much talked-about shortage of workers is bad. It has been very difficult to find cooks, waiters and cleaners," Kallio told the paper.
"During the pandemic a lot of people have had to be laid off, and this has led to a lot of changes in the job sector, for example. Workers have left for the retail sector and young people are not joining a trade in the same numbers as before," he added.