Finland called for clean tech co-op with China

Finland's minister of the environment called for greater scope of collaboration between China and the Finnish clean technology industry to help China in its fight against environmental degradation on Tuesday at a technology forum in Beijing.

Speaking at a Finland clean technology forum, minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen said that while encouraging steps have been made through the existing "Beautiful Beijing" project to match Finnish expertise with the capital's need for clean air, it should be expanded to allow for more ambitious cooperation.

Launched in April 2013 by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes), the "Beautiful Beijing" project serves as a platform to improve the capital's indoor air quality with Finnish clean technology solutions.

"The 'Beautiful Beijing' concept is an excellent base to build our cooperation into other fields, such as water and soil contamination technologies, as well as to widen the geographical coverage to other parts of China,"said Grahn-Laasonen.

China is now the largest overseas market for the Finnish clean technology sector ahead of Russia and Germany, according to industry association Cleantech Finland. In recent years, parts of the country including the capital have been plagued by air quality issues.

Ismo Tiainen, director general of international and EU affairs at Finland's Ministry of the Environment, told China Daily that the Finnish delegation held talks with MEP on Monday to discuss expanding to fields other than air quality in a longer term cooperation for the next four or five years.

Earlier this month, President Xi Jinping signed a climate deal with his US counterpart Barack Obama to commit to targets for cuts to China's carbon emissions. The country's carbon emissions would peak "around 2030". The deal also included increasing the non-fossil fuel share of energy to 20 percent by 2030.

Grahn-Laasonen applauded China's actions and said that it will "encourage other countries to step forward with their own contributions before the Paris climate conference next year."

According to the World Health Organization indices, Finland is one of the cleanest countries in the world. Given the country's harsh climate and lack of fossil fuel resources; it has become a hub for clean technology innovation

The clean technology sector is viewed as a key driver for the Finnish economy with significant government backing. In 2013, a third of all public research and development funding went into the 25.8 billion euros ($32 billion) clean technology sector.

"When confronting the environment, there needs to be a concerted effort by both government and businesses," said Grahn-Laasonen. "In the case of Finland, businesses have found that exploring new technologies and reducing energy waste becomes their key competitive advantage."