Finland could be subject to billions of euros in costs as the diminishing capacity of forests as a carbon sink has undermined its effort to meet the sink target set by the EU.
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) revealed Wednesday that the country is most likely to emit about 50–80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide less than its target, a deficit that will have to be made up by obtaining removal units from member states that met their targets or by cutting emissions in other sectors, such as transport.
“This is outright a national emergency,” said Professor Jyri Seppälä of Luke to Finland’s national public broadcasting company YLE on Wednesday.

