Kai Mykkänen, Minister of Climate and the Environment (The National Coalition Party – EPP) claimed that Finland voted against the European nature restoration law because of its excessive costs: “According to the Commission’s impact assessment, the costs are the highest in the EU for Finland in relation to the size of its economy.” The claim turns out to be true, but requires context.
The European nature restoration law is legislation that sets out rules and procedures for the restoration and conservation of natural resources and ecosystems. This is intended to compensate or offset damage caused by natural resources and promote sustainable development. The EU aims to restore at least 20% of its land and sea areas by 2030.
Fact checking
Having reviewed the EU impact assessment report (2022), we can confirm the statement to be true. However, Mykkänen’s argument does not consider the benefits of the nature restoration law on Finland’s gross domestic product.
The EU Commission has produced an impact assessment report on the costs of the restoration regulation in 2022, according to Matleena Kniivilä, research manager of the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The impact assessment report shows that the benefits to Finland’s GDP are ten times greater than the costs, which is more than any other EU country.
The assessed costs as a share of GDP are the highest for Finland, estimated at 0.4% of GDP. The second highest cost is estimated for Latvia, 0.2%.
In absolute terms, France incurs the highest costs, over 2 billion, followed by Spain at 1.5 billion, and Finland at 931 million.
The report reveals significant differences between Finland and other countries. Finland’s estimated benefit is 4.1% of GDP, with Lithuania receiving the next highest percentage benefit, 2.2%.
Sources
The information in the impact assessment report is based on the data provided by each EU country, which the Commission uses to calculate the estimate, says Olli Ojala, environment adviser at the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. EU member states report the data to the Commission every six years. The latest data was published in 2018.
All data reported by EU member states can be found on The Article 17 web tool, website created by the European Commission. The latest assessments were conducted for the 27 current EU members, as well as United Kingdom, in 2013–2018.
Current restoration efforts in Finland
Finland is committed to adhering to the biodiversity strategy approved by the EU in 2020. According to the environmental organization WWF Finland, the Resoration law does not impose significant additional obligations beyond those to which EU countries have already committed. When enacted, the restoration law would be the only legally binding part of the biodiversity strategy for member states, the organization says.
Restoration efforts are already conducted through voluntary-based programs and environmental aid for agricultural and forestry. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the most significant targets have been wetlands, with 2,000 hectares restored, and forests, with 400 hectares managed.
According to WWF Finland, a significant portion of the restoration costs assessed by the Commission has already been included in the state budget and does not represent new spending.
Conclusion
After verification, we can confirm that the claim “Finland faces the highest costs under EU’s restoration regulation relative to its economy” is true. However, the claim requires context. Mykkänen does not account forthe benefits of the restoration decree, or consider the financial costs already incurred by Finland’s own restoration efforts.
RESEARCH | ARTICLE : Aino Alatupa, Viivi Hellevuo, Ville Leppänen, Aura Pietikäinen, Elviira Säkkinen – Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
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