The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation's NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF), a Public Private Partnership, announces a new investor into the Fund as The Danish Energy Agency decides to invest in the newly established carbon fund.

The Danish Energy Agency is an Agency under the Ministry of Climate and Energy, which has responsibility for the JI and CDM programmes of the Danish state. The agency is an existing investor in the Baltic Sea Region Testing Ground Facility, a carbon fund fund managed by NEFCO, which invests in Joint Implementation programmes.

The Norwegian holding company Vardar Eurus has purchased 25 per cent of the Estonian wind energy company OÜ Roheline Ring Tuulepargid. The latter owns three wind parks which have an overall capacity of 16,1 MW. A fourth wind park with the planned capacity of 6,9 MW is being developed.

Vardar Eurus is owned by Vardar AS (70%) and NEFCO (30%). The new investment will strengthen Vardar Eurus´ position as the largest producer of renewable energy in Estonia.

The final stage in addressing one of the environmental hot spots in Russian Karelia was taken this week. Approximately 12 tonnes of obsolete pesticides were transported from Petrozavodsk in Russia to Ekokem in Finland for adequate and environmentally safe elimination. The pesticides will be destroyed at Ekokem's thermal destruction facility in high temperatures in accordance with the Basel Convention. 

IKEA’s global network of subcontractors is sometimes full of surprises. In the Ukrainian countryside, about 40 kilometres northwest of Lviv, the Danish company, Gangsø Møbler A/S, has set up a furniture factory in the small town of Kolodentsi. 

NEFCO will grant loans in US dollars for projects focused on cleaner production in Ukraine. The decision was made by the Investment committee of NEFCO on Thursday. Several Ukrainian companies have expressed their interest in applying for loans from NEFCO's Cleaner Production Credit Scheme, provided the loan is granted in USD instead of EUR.

The enticing aroma of freshly baked bread greets us in the richly traditional Kyivkhlib No. 2 bakery contained within an 85-year-old building on Ulitsa Schekavitska in central Kiev. The tile-covered, patterned walls in the stairwell and the wall panel reliefs on the upper floor testify to long and proud traditions. The work is going well as we visit the bakery at the end of April to see how the project is progressing.

NEFCO is setting up a new global carbon procurement facility to procure greenhouse gas emission reduction credits from projects eligible under the Kyoto Protocol. The new fund, to be called the NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF), is directed at private investors, which have compliance obligations under the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and sovereign investors who are participants in the existing Kyoto fund managed by NEFCO, the Baltic Sea Region Testing Ground Facility (TGF).

NEFCO's annual result for 2007 shows a surplus of 4,7 million euros. This is the best financial result for NEFCO since the corporation was established in 1990. In total, 59 projects were approved last year covering e.g. investments in renewable energy, energy saving and wastewater treatment in Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. NEFCO's first project in Belarus was also approved in 2007.

The ninth Environmental Forum "Baltic Sea Day" kicked off on Wednesday in St Petersburg with nearly 500 participants attending the plenary session. The forum is an important event before the upcoming Russian presidency in HELCOM. Special attention was this year given to the Baltic Sea Action Plan, which was adopted in Krakow in November.

NEFCO has published a pre-feasibility study on a future nutrient trading system aimed at reducing releases of phosphorus and nitrogen into the Baltic Sea. The study "Framework for a Nutrient Quota and Credits' Trading System" has been funded by the Finnish ministry of environment and written by the consulting agency Green Stream Network. The report was published in connection to the Helsinki Commission's (HELCOM) annual meeting, which took place on Wednesday in Finland.