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CARBON CAPTURE HAS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION
Since last spring, Metsä Group has been carrying out a pre- feasibility study with the energy company Fortum concern- ing the construction of a carbon capture facility at a pulp or bioproduct mill. The Äänekoski bioproduct mill has been used as an example. Carbon dioxide can be captured at all mills that use wood-based fuels, such as Metsä Board’s Husum mill. The background of the study is the global hydrogen econ- omy and using carbon dioxide obtained from wood within it. The hydrogen economy is a major step for the green transition, in which Metsä Group is also involved in renewa- ble production. “There is a lot of untapped potential in carbon capture. For example, the captured carbon could be used as raw material for synthetic gas to replace natural gas obtained from Russia in Europe and balance the fluctuation in elec- tricity prices,” says Pirita Mikkanen , Vice President, Energy at Metsä Group. Carbon dioxide is created as a side stream of the forest industry’s production. A successful hydrogen economy would enable renewable energy to be stored using hydro- gen. The storage of renewable energy reduces dependency on fossil fuels, which in turn would decrease their resulting carbon dioxide emissions. “Carbon capture benefits the climate by replacing fossil energy and keeping carbon dioxide away from the atmos- phere for longer time.” The captured carbon dioxide can also be used to produce methanol for the chemical industry. It is also a suitable raw material for fuel or plastic, for example.
PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY IN MILL AREAS
Metsä Group has prepared a plan for safeguarding biodiversity in its mill areas. The project was launched in the autumn of 2023 in the Kemi mill area, which also includes Metsä Board’s paper- board mill. A total of 12 hectares of mead- ows and sunlit habitats have been established in the environment of the Kemi mill area of 650 hec- tares, and seeds of more than 80 different plants have been sown in them. The cultivated plants are chosen based on the local plant population and climate. “Improving the state of nature is one of the goals of Metsä
Group’s regenerative forestry approach, and the Kemi pilot project will expand its scope from the forest to mill areas and urban environments. This could be a course adopted industry-wide,” says Ilkka Hämälä , Metsä Group’s President and CEO. Based on the results from the project in Kemi, measures to protect biodiversity will also be introduced at all Metsä Group’s 20 mill locations across Europe. One goal of the project is to include the biodiversity plans in the mills’ environmental reporting.
Metsä Group aims to increase regional biodiversity at all its mill locations across Europe, which number more than 20.
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