Helsinki CO₂ emissions drop by over a quarter

An environmental report from the City of Helsinki has revealed that CO₂ emissions fell at a record pace last year, with a 25.4 percent drop overall when compared to 2022.

District heating emissions in the city decreased by 35 percent, while emissions from electricity consumption fell by 23 percent.

The city has attributed the drop to the closure of the Hanasaari coal power plant and investments made by the municipal energy company Helen in low-emission production along with a “levelling off of the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine”.

“The year 2022 was exceptional due to the war and the global energy crisis, when Helen suddenly had to replace natural gas with the use of coal, oil and pellets, and Helsinki’s total emissions increased,” said Hanna Wesslin, Climate Director of the City of Helsinki. “Now emissions have again returned to a clearly downward path.”

Traffic emissions

The city says emissions have decreased “very significantly” in a short time, even taking the 2022 rise into account, with a 17 percent reduction in total emissions from 2021 to 2023.

Compared to 1990, the city’s total CO₂ emissions have now decreased by 45 percent while emissions per resident have decreased by 60 percent over the same period.

Despite the downward trend some areas have been slower to adapt with traffic now set to become Helsinki’s largest source of emissions by 2025 (despite a five percent decrease between 2022–2023).

“Already next year, more than half of the direct emissions in the Helsinki region will come from traffic, while the other major emissions continue to decrease,” Wesslin added.

“Traffic emission reductions will therefore be of critical importance for how Helsinki achieves its climate goals.”

The city says its public transport operator achieved its target of a 30 percent electrification of the bus fleet ahead of schedule and that “a record number of tramway projects were being planned over the next ten years”.

The share of electric cars has also increased, standing at 16.7 percent in 2023 compared to 3.4 percent in 2020.

As part of the Carbon Neutral Helsinki programme, the city is currently assessing which reforms could be implemented in order to reduce traffic emissions at a faster rate, with results of the analysis expected in autumn.

Image: JussiHellsten/City of Helsinki