The little archipelago that could: how Åland’s climate actions can inspire us all
Reducing emissions by 60 percent this decade. Initiating massive offshore wind power. Incubating smart energy prototypes. Pressing the envelope toward carbon neutrality for the whole Nordic region.
This is just a snapshot of how autonomous Åland is taking big climate action.
We Don’t Have Time caught up with Åland Parliament Member Simon Holmström after his brief address at the Exponential Climate Action Summit earlier this autumn, to find out more about Åland’s initiatives and how other governments can follow suit similarly.
This month marks Simon Holmström’s one-year anniversary as an elected Parliament Member in Åland, the Finnish-yet-autonomous archipelago of islands located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.
Back in 2014, Åland’s government decided that the archipelago would become sustainable by 2051. From that determination came a scientific analysis that, in 2018, resulted in a target that was bold but deemed achievable — to reduce Åland’s emissions by 60 percent by 2030, compared to what their 2005 levels were.
Now the government is working on further concretizing this crucial goal by adopting that target into a new climate law. And according to recent government communications, the EU and Finnish processes for stronger climate targets will have an impact on this law.
“Åland is about practically doing climate action,” said Simon in his interview with We Don’t Have Time. “And one of our big climate actions is through expanding wind power.”
“About two months ago,” he explained, “the Åland government announced a new vision for large offshore wind power in the Åland waters with up to 500 wind turbines on an area of a thousand square kilometers. That will have an effect of up to six gigawatts. It’s huge.”
The operation would also utilize power-to-X conversion technology, meaning that it would not just produce energy but store it — as hydrogen, which could be used as a power source when the winds are down, or potentially to fuel the huge passenger ferries that regularly make a halt at the islands on their way to and from Finland and Sweden.
While it’s still in an early planning phase, Simon reported, “There’s a lot of support for the project — by citizens, companies, and the government — and strong momentum to take it further.”
One more way Åland is taking its climate goals seriously is through an initiative called Smart Energy Åland, which effectively makes the islands a prototype platform for renewable energy. It has invited international companies and universities that want to innovate in the field of energy production, storage, and efficiency, to implement and demonstrate those innovations in Åland.
During our interview, one of the Smart Energy Åland projects fresh in Simon’s mind was the use of hydrogen ferries to and from the archipelago, which could tie into the offshore wind power operation.
Another innovation in the works is the transformation of an old mine into an energy storage site. “Basically you fill the old mine with water. When you have extra energy in the Åland grid, you use that for pumping the water level up. Then, when energy in the grid is low, you release the water to generate more energy.”
Simon has focused a fair amount of his attention lately in the Nordic Council, the official body for governmental cooperation among Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland.
“When I first came in, I heard a lot of talk — how to define climate neutrality, what targets to set, which white papers to write. But what we really need is strong action. We need to stop the use of fossil fuels and to set a date for that.”
Just last week the Committee for a Sustainable Nordic Region, in which Simon participates, led a discussion of a proposal to set such an end date for the whole of the Nordic region.
Reported in a press release after that Nordic Council session, Simon concluded the discussion with, “There was a great deal of agreement on the premise that all Nordic countries need to cooperate in the planning of climate neutrality. Today’s situation is a patchwork quilt with different climate ambitions.”
Ultimately, the proposal to end fossil fuel usage was voted down 7–5 in the session, but the proponents were encouraged to return with a new proposal for a common Nordic climate goal.
Simon commented, “I am nevertheless pleased that this initiative has shaken up the Nordic Council and accelerated the understanding that long-term planning to achieve zero emissions benefits Nordic competitiveness. When the EU adopts its climate law, that will also give us traction.”
To We Don’t Have Time he said, “This won’t stop the fight for a common Nordic climate ambition. I will lead a new member initiative with a somewhat different touch. It will be for a common Nordic target on net-zero emissions, in line with the Paris Agreement.”
Simon, alongside his party group and members of the Committee for a Sustainable Nordic Region, will make that new proposal before the end of the year.
“Politicians need to understand that the climate crisis is the single biggest threat to our economy,” stated Simon in the We Don’t Have Time interview. “We’re so focused now on covid-19 and the financial response to that, that we’re forgetting about the larger crisis of climate. We have to talk about both at the same time.”
Simon concluded with an inspiration for how all governments, large and small, can move forward. “What corona has shown us is that politicians do have an ability to listen to researchers and design policies around the science. We can push for this even more now when it comes to climate science, and I think politicians can feel more courageous now to act on the research.”
Written by LISA M. BAILEY
We Don’t Have Time is the world’s largest social network for sharing climate action and solutions. Join our network: wedonthavetime.org
