The meeting will address the recent samplings on high phosphorus loads in the Luga River flowing to the Gulf of Finland, reports HELCOM in a press release today.The fact finding mission is a follow up to the HELCOM BALTHAZAR Project Steering Group Meeting, convened in St Petersburg last Wednesday on 18 January, which considered the consultant’s report on the high loads of up to 1,000 tonnes per year from an area close to the city of Kingisepp.

“The Steering Group supported the plans of the BALTHAZAR project to immediately continue the investigation on the sources of the phosphorus load together with the responsible Russian authorities. The visit to the plant gives a good opportunity to learn about the situation and inform the public accordingly,” says the Russian Project Director, Dr. Leonid Korovin.

The visit will be followed by meetings between the Russian regional and local authorities, experts of the BALTHAZAR project as well as a representative of the Ministry of Environment of Finland. NEFCO has also expressed preparedness to solve the environmental challenge at hand in Kingisepp. 

“There are techniques and solutions available to mitigate pollution from fertiliser production which can be offered for a fast track implementation to significantly reduce the discharges of nutrients”, says Senior Manager Karl-Johan Lehtinen who heads the environmental unit at NEFCO.

Eutrophication is regarded as the biggest environmental problem of the Baltic Sea which is due to the long-lasting high nitrogen and phosphorus load to the sea. The Gulf of Finland is a highly eutrophicated part of the Baltic Sea. The most visible sign of eutrophication are the blue-green algae blooms, which have increased both in the Gulf of Finland and in the main basin of the Baltic Sea since the early 1990s. The excess of phosphorus is the key trigger of blue-green algal blooms.

Learn more about HELCOM

Find the fertiliser plant on the map

Learn more about the Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund

The applications include proposals from Nordic companies, NGO’s and research institutions with experience of project financing and partnerships with local organizations in low income countries. The theme for the Third Call was innovative low-cost climate solutions with a focus on local business development.

The NCF team will evaluate, score and short-list the applications in the coming weeks and invite the short-listed applicants to submit their full proposals at the end of February.

The Nordic Climate Facility, which is funded by the Nordic Development Fund and jointly administered with NEFCO, provides grant financing for climate related projects in low-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Financing can be granted to Nordic institutions, organizations, companies, and authorities which have established cooperation with a partner in low-income countries. The first call focused on energy efficiency and water resources while the second call supported renewable energy and urban adaptation to climate change.

Learn more about the Nordic Climate Facility

Read more about the Nordic Development Fund

Under the terms of the agreement, the company will, among other things, upgrade the factory’s steam boilers and heat exchangers as well as the water treatment facilities and thereby reduce energy consumption, a move which will boost the company’s profits and operability. 

“This is our first loan disbursement from our Facility for Cleaner Production in Belarus, and judging from preliminary inquiries about similar project financing, there appears to be a robust demand for our services in the country”, says NEFCO’s Investment Manager, Maria Maliniemi.

Vitebsk MPP, a joint stock company, produces a wide range of meat products, such as salami, boiled and smoked sausages, sliced frozen pork, cutlets, stuffed cabbage rolls and meatballs.

The refurbishment of the factory’s boiler house and the water treatment system is expected to reduce the consumption of natural gas by some 330,000 cubic metres per year and this will translate into substantial reductions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

Currently, the Facility for Cleaner Production, which has so far financed 64 projects to the tune of EUR 21 million since its inception in 1997, has some 50 new projects under funding consideration.

Belarus currently accounts for 0.3 per cent of NEFCO’s loans from its two main funds; the Investment Fund and the Nordic Environmental Development Fund.

Learn more about the Facility for Cleaner Production

Read more about another Belarus project financed by NEFCO

Find the project location on the map

Sulphur oxide and heavy metal emissions from the Kola Peninsula smelters have been one of the main subjects of international environmental cooperation in the Barents region. 

In 2003, NEFCO co-financed a study which identified a number of so called environmental hot spots in the Russian part of the Barents region. The study, which was commissioned by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, identified the cupro-nickel smelters at Nikel and Zapolyarnyi as some of the worst hot spots in the Barents region. NEFCO, the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and Norilsk Nickel have been trying to find a lasting solution to this problem. 

Inadequate wastewater treatment facilities in Murmansk have also has been identified as one of the region’s environmental hot spots. In the near future, partly as a result of significant investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development together with NEFCO, up to 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater will be treated at the refurbished plant. 

“With the help of this video we want to demonstrate that, despite enormous environmental challenges in the Barents region, international cooperation is beginning to make a difference”, says Communications Manager, Mikael Sjövall, from NEFCO.  

Two previous NEFCO videos on YouTube have by 21 December generated over 8,800 clicks.

Watch the video on YouTube 

Danosha Ltd. is owned by the Danish company, Axzon A/S, which farms 20, 000 hectares and produces 650,000 pigs a year. 

Under the terms of the agreement, NEFCO will grant a loan of EUR 1.8 million for the construction of a biogas plant in Kopanki, which is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by some 27,300 tonnes per year when the biogas reactor becomes operational. The 1 megawatt reactor will consume some 100,000 cubic metres of pig slurry annually.

The total investment cost for the project is EUR 4 million, and there are plans for similar facilities at three other Danosha-managed sites in Western Ukraine.

Learn more about NEFCO's Investment Fund

Learn more about Danosha Ltd

The Nordic Partnership Initiative launched at COP17 is an effort to explore and finance new ways to bring down emissions in highly polluting sectors in developing countries.

The Nordic Partnership Initiative on Up-scaled Mitigation Action (NPI) is a follow-up on the commitments made at COP16 in Cancun 2010, and it points beyond COP17 as a future model for developing instruments to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

The NPI aims to demonstrate how international climate finance can be better matched with an intensified sector based effort in developing countries to reduce emissions.

The initial programme will focus on waste and cement, both highly intensive emission sectors. But the programme might serve as a future model for work in other sectors too.

"The Nordic countries want to be at the forefront of climate action and we realize that both top-down and bottom-up action is needed. Our joint participation in the Nordic Partnership Initiative underlines this commitment and we hope to help show the way forward to better use of NAMAs to bring down emissions by involving governments and businesses alike", said Finnish Minister for the Environment Ville Niniistö at the launch of the Nordic Partnership Initiative in Durban on December 8th.

The NPI programme in Peru will focus on finding ways to lower CO2 emission in the waste sector, which accounts for more emissions globally than the entire transport sector. The budget for the programme in Peru is set at EUR 2.3 million. It will be financed by NEFCO and directly by the Nordic governments.

"I am happy that the Nordic Council of Ministers acts as a bridge between our countries and I thank the Nordic countries for furthering the use of NAMAs in Peru", said Vice-Minister of Natural Resources Strategic Development, Hugo Cabieses, in his presentation at the event.

The NPI programme in Viet Nam will focus on the cement production sector, which globally represents around 5 % of all carbon dioxide emissions. The programme cost will be €1.6 million. The programme will be financed through a grant from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) and by a contribution from the Government of Vietnam. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be partner agency of the programme.

"In Vietnam energy demand goes up 6.5 % every year and emissions increase accordingly, so the work with NAMAs is given high priority and is supervised by the Prime Minister to support green growth. So we are honoured to be part of this project", said Vice-Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Dr. Tran Hong Ha in his speech in a panel that consisted of no less than six ministers from the countries involved.

The initial sums invested are not substantial, but the NPI may serve as a frontrunner and a model for larger programmes in the future.

Following up on commitments
In the Cancun Agreements at COP16 it was agreed to limit global warming to two degrees. This will require considerable scaling up of mitigation efforts both in developed and developing countries, as shown by a recent UNEP study, Bridging the Emissions Gap.

Developed countries agreed in Cancun to support developing countries with this massive task, through capacity building, technology transfer and financing. The Nordic Partnership Initiative in accordance with this commitment seeks to build host countries’ capacity to evaluate, structure and implement Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), which make use of international finance and possible new market mechanisms.

It is expected that the new instrument of NAMAs will eventually create a larger volume of emission reductions than the existing Clean Development Mechanism, and at the same time, contribute to sustainable development in host countries.

The Nordic Partnership Initiative was launched at COP17 in Durban on December 8, 2011 and the two programmes are scheduled to take effect during 2012 according to plan. It is an initiative between the Nordic Countries (i.e. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) through the Nordic Council of Ministers, in partnership with Peru and Viet Nam. 

Watch NCM's video on the launch of the Nordic Partnership Initiative in Durban

Download our fact sheet on the Nordic Partnership Initiative

Contacts for more information
Harri Laurikka (NOAK) - harri.laurikka@ymparisto.fi / +358 (40) 7193123
Outi Leskelä (NOAK) - outi.leskela@ymparisto.fi / +358 (40) 154 9701
Martina Jägerhorn (NDF) - martina.jagerhorn@ndf.fi / +358 (10) 618 002
Ash Sharma (NEFCO) - ash.sharma@nefco.fi / +358 (40) 08 11 327

NEFCO contributed to the study on “Innovative Climate Finance” which communicates the financing work of a number of international financial institutions who are member of the BFI-CCWG initiative. NEFCO Vice President Ash Sharma, who attended the event on Friday, highlighted the Nordic institution’s work with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). NEFCO, as part of the Nordic Partnership Initiative, is establishing “readiness” activities for the fledgling new market mechanisms in Peru and Viet Nam.

The report highlights a range of innovative financing instrument employed by members of the BFI-CCWG, which consists of UNEP, Agence Française de Developpment (AFD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), KfW Entwicklungsbank (German Development Bank) and NEFCO. These instruments include blending facilities which package loans and grants, support for policy development, green credit lines, risk sharing instruments and carbon finance support. NEFCO’s work in the area of climate guarantees, carbon finance products and NAMA readiness is highlighted in the report.

The second report is entitled Bilateral Finance Institutions and Climate Change, and presents a mapping of public financial flows for mitigation and adaptation to developing countries from the institutions in 2010. NEFCO has been a member of the BFI-CCWG since its inception in 2009, and this is the third mapping report produced by the group.

Download the UNEP Report on Bilateral Finance Institutions & Climate Change

Download the executive summary of the report above

Download the report on Innovative climate finance

Learn more about the Nordic Partnership Initiative

The total investment cost of the project is RUB 10.5 million, and NEFCO will provide a loan of RUB 9.5 million. The loan will be used to renovate five heating sub-centrals and install heat metering devices at 31 buildings, mainly schools, day-care centres and youth centres.

The project is expected to save some 2.5 million kilowatt hours of heat energy per year for the municipality and this will translate into over RUB 5 million in savings annually.  NEFCO’s intermediary bank in Russia, Raiffeisen will disburse the loan to the municipality. The maturity of the loan will be 2.1 years.

 At the moment NEFCO has some 16-20 new energy saving projects in the pipeline with a total value of around EUR 6 million. The corporation's Facility for Energy Saving Credits has access to funds totaling EUR 12.5 million.

Learn more about the Facility for Energy Saving Credits

Find the project location on the map

Learn more about NEFCO's cooperation agreement with Raiffeisen Bank

Read about a recent energy savings loan to Gurjevsk

The projects are in line with the fund’s stated priority for renewable energy investments, bringing the total power generation capacity built or planned to well over 1000 MW.

In total, these contracts (Emission Reduction Purchase Agreements or ERPAs) will procure emission reductions of about 2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents by 2020 for compliance buyers in the EU’s emission trading scheme Phase III (2013-2020) and governments under international commitments.

NEFCO Vice President and Head of Carbon Finance and Funds Unit, Ash Sharma stated ” In addition to environmental and energy security benefits, in our experience, renewable energy projects offer low methodology risk and have good issuance records. We continue to focus on active project cycle management to achieve the goal of generating high quality emission reduction credits for the NeCF participants, by registering these projects in time for the 12/12 deadline imposed by the EU.”

NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF) procures emission reduction units on behalf of its investors enabling them to meet their commitments under the EU Emission Trading Scheme and the Kyoto Protocol.  The NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF), which was established in 2008, has thus far invested in a 100% renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio, primarily in wind and hydro energy projects in Asia and Latin America.

Read our press release

Learn more about carbon financing

Learn more about the Clean Development Mechanism

The decision in Umeå is regarded as a significant step forward since the time line for addressing the hot spots is approaching fast. According to a ministerial agreement in 2003, the intention was that this should take no longer than 10 years.

The driving force to exclude hot spots has for the last two years been the Swedish Ministry of Environment and Authority of Nature Protection in close cooperation with NEFCO and the Russian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The Chairmanship of the Barents environmental cooperation now goes from Sweden to Finland for the next two years. The work will be headed by the Finnish Minister of the Environment, Ville Niinistö, who confirmed that the exclusion of hot spots will remain a priority.

The so called hot spots in the Russian Barents Region were defined in a report by NEFCO in collaboration with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) in 2003. NEFCO has a special mandate to work with environmental projects in the Arctic and the Barents regions. One of the important financial tools for doing this is the Barents Hot Spots Facility (BHSF), which is managed by NEFCO on behalf of the Nordic governments.

So far some 66 projects or other specific measures have been approved for allocations from the BHSF. The Facility’s main task is to provide grants to finance technical assistance, typically key pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, business and financing plans, or environmental impact assessments.

Learn more about the environmental hot spots in the Barents region

Read more 

Find out more about the ministerial decision in Finnish

Find out more about the ministerial decision in Norwegian

Find out more about the ministerlal decision in Swedish