In the future, more attention will be paid to the implementation of the criteria for the municipalities belonging to and joining the Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities (Hinku) network. If a current Hinku municipality has not joined the municipal energy efficiency agreement (KETS) by the end of 2022, the municipality will be removed from the Hinku network. New municipalities have one year to implement KETS.
In the future, Hinku municipalities must ensure that all Hinku criteria are met within the same time frame. In addition, the Finnish Environment Institute Syke will monitor the fulfilment of the Hinku criteria by means of surveys addressed to the municipalities and possible direct contacts.
The decision on the obligation to comply with the criteria was made in the Hinku steering group on Wednesday, 3 November 2021. Around 70 representatives of municipalities, ministries and stakeholders attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Syke's Director General Leif Schulman.
The steering group discussed the carbon credit procedures for the Hinku calculation. The steering group approved the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies for the credit calculation, as the measures are always additional.
In the case of a CCS facility, the carbon credit shall be calculated on the basis of the share of production attributable to the owner municipality in proportion to its holding when the facility is located outside its own municipality. The carbon credits of the municipality where the facility is located are calculated as the amount of emission reduction that has not been reserved by other municipalities through their holdings.
The use of carbon capture and utilisation technologies (CCU) shall be included to the credit calculation to the extent to which it reduces net CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. This amount can be considered as an additional amount, and the same rules of ownership and location apply for its credit use as for CCS.
The motion brought to the meeting on the treatment of bioenergy in the calculation of carbon credits provoked abundant discussion. It was decided to refer the proposal to the steering group for decision at a later stage by means of an e-mail procedure. In addition, the crediting practice related to the production of transport fuels will be brought to the next meeting of the Hinku steering group.
The meeting also decided to continue awarding Hinku achievements with a Hinku Award. The tasks related to the award are distributed to the contact persons of the Hinku municipalities and regions and to Syke's Hinku team.
The meeting also heard a presentation of the report on the climate road maps of the regions and briefly discussed the situation of compensation practices in Finland.