Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat highlighted that greenhouse gas emissions in the Helsinki metropolitan area fell significantly last year.
The newspaper said that across the entire capital region emissions have fallen by 20 percent. In Helsinki, emissions decreased by 25 percent. In Espoo and Kauniainen, they dropped by 15 percent, while Vantaa experienced an emissions reduction of eight percent.
This is according to preliminary figures published by Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY). While energy production figures have already been accounted for, HSY still needs to add new information on traffic.
HSY's experts said a number of factors help explain the drop in emissions.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine spurred Finland to replace Russian natural gas with coal and oil, which led to a spike in emissions for 2022.
Emissions also dropped in 2023 as the capital region moved away from coal on a large scale, shutting down coal power plants like Hanasaari.
Additionally, there were other factors responsible for the capital region's emission reduction, such as an increase in wind power capacity and electricity from the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant.
Electricity consumption also fell in the Helsinki metropolitan area, but only by about 3.5 percent, despite high electricity costs last year.
Soini on upcoming EU elections
Business daily Kauppalehti interviewed the Finns Party's retired ex-chair — and current political commentator — Timo Soini on the upcoming EU elections.
The EU-sceptic Soini made it clear that the main issue with the European Union is where the sovereignty of nation-states ends and where that of the EU begins.
"But there is more to the EU than that, as the recent security situation in Europe has shown us very well," Soini said.
The far-right in Europe looks poised to win big and a possible coalition between the centre-right European People's Party, far-right Europe of Conservatives and Reformists, and the radical right Identity and Democracy groups could form in the European Parliament after the elections.
"Marine Le Pen made an excellent political play by proposing to Giorgia Meloni that they join forces. It's a big play, because there are up to 30 right-wing MEPs from both countries," Soini said, referring to France's Le Pen proposing last week to Italian PM Meloni that the two should ally together in the European Parliament.
Soini added that in the future more member states might take the route of Hungary and Poland, opposing the EU in favour of the nation-state, despite the threat of disciplinary measures against those states.
At the same time, Soini also said that he would not accept pro-Russian parties, such as Hungary's Fidesz in the Europe of Conservatives and Reformists.
"Pro-Russian parties are not for Europe or peace," Soini said.
This week's episode of All Points North explores some of the recent developments on the right wing of the European Union and the Finns Party's relationship with the EU. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Finland's maple syrup?
Rural-focused newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus posited that Finns may not be reaping the full rewards of the forest's bounty.
Citing the success of North America's maple syrup industry, the newspaper looked at other natural products found in Finnish forests that could be sold to reap profits for forest owners.
While berries and some long-established edible mushrooms have served as some sources of profit, there are a few other ways for Finnish forest owners to make money besides selling firewood and wood chips.
A survey commissioned by MT last winter said that more than two-thirds of forest owners had not received any side income from their forests in the past five years.
Certain items like birch sap — that could be turned into syrup — and chaga (Inonotus obliquus) — a fungus that grows on tree bark used often in East Asian medicinal teas — are not intensively cultivated in Finland.
However, ramping up production for such natural products presents itself with many bottlenecks. For example, inoculating and growing chaga is so new that 'farmed' chaga has never been harvested, and commercial sales have been limited to the wild-grown variant.
This means that the fungus is rare and difficult to commercially replicate as a natural product.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.