The Climate Fund’s funding operations focus on promoting climate and environmental solutions to combat climate change and boost low-carbon industry. In accordance with the company’s responsibility program, the Climate Fund calculates and offsets the carbon footprint of its own operations. The carbon credits of the Finnish soil improvement fibre manufacturer Soilfood Oy were chosen as the offsetting target for 2021.
The Climate Fund’s direct environmental impact is caused mostly by its offices, energy consumption and travel due to its operational nature. The Climate Fund seeks to minimise the fossil footprint from its own operations, which was 77 carbon dioxide equivalent tonnes in 2021. The carbon footprint was calculated by Gaia Consulting according to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. In 2022, the calculation method will be further developed to include emissions from our investment portfolio as well as the company’s external due diligence costs.
”Promoting new solutions is at the core of the Climate Fund’s mission, so we wanted to find a Finnish technology for offsetting our carbon footprint. New projects become available as the market develops and we hope that, in this way, the Climate Fund can contribute to the development of the Finnish carbon sink market”, says Communications Director Saara Mattero.
The Climate Fund offset its emissions with carbon credits purchased through the Finnish Puro.earth service, with the carbon sinks of the circular economy company Soilfood Oy chosen as the instrument. Soilfood produces its soil improvement fibres for agriculture by processing forest industry side streams, which would otherwise be disposed of by burning, releasing all carbon back into the atmosphere. When used in soil improvement, part of the carbon contained in the fibres is bound into the soil for the long term, forming a carbon sink. For the farmers, fibre processing is an efficient way of increasing the humus content of their fields and improve their water and nutrient retention capacity as well as microbiological activity. Thus, the use of recycled soil improvement fibre as fertiliser also reduces the use of fossil-based fertilisers.
Independent experts have calculated the carbon footprint of Soilfood’s products and audited the carbon sinks created by them. The proceeds of selling the carbon sinks are split between the farmer using the soil improvement fibre, the industrial raw material supplier and Soilfood. The purpose of this arrangement is to increase both the demand for soil improvement fibre and the side stream supply going forward.
Read more:
On the Climate Fund’s emissions calculation from the company’s sustainability report (p. 44, in Finnish)
On the Soilfood solution from the company’s website
On the Puro.earth service from its website
For additional information, please contact:
Saara Mattero, Communications Director, tel. +358 400 114 777 saara.mattero@ilmastorahasto.fi
The Climate Fund is a state-owned special-assignment company. Its operations focus on combating climate change, boosting low-carbon industry and promoting digitalisation. The Climate Fund invests in large-scale projects in which the company’s investment is crucial for the project’s success or will enable it to be realised sooner or on a larger scale.