View from summer cottage (Photo Credit: Wikimedia)

To say that the Finns have a certain reverence for their summer season is no understatement. From May to August, nearly every Finn heads outdoors to take advantage of the twelve-plus hours of sunlight before the long, dark winter creeps back in. Government and other activity slows down, prompting many to travel to forest cottages where on Midsummer’s Eve they build bonfires and revel in the longest day of the year. So enticing is the Finnish summer that many Finns stay at their cottages for the entire month of July.  

In Finland, the summer season is a fleeting miracle – a mere four months of life-giving growth after months of sub-arctic temperatures. And the Finns do not take it for granted. With such an appreciation for their world around them, it is not surprising then that Finns have such an active interest in reducing their carbon footprint.

Since 2001, the Finnish government has produced a series of action plans, known as the National Climate Strategy, detailing concrete steps the nation must take to reduce their share of emissions. In its latest Strategy published in November 2008, the Finnish government set ambitious goals to ensure that 38% of energy and 10% of transport fuel is produced from renewable sources. By 2020, Finland hopes to produce 14.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of hydroelectric energy, 1.0 TWh of wind power and 34.9 TWh of nuclear energy – a big leap from their 2006 levels of 11.3 TWh, .1 TWh and 22 TWh respectively.

Finland’s efforts are starting to pay off. According to the latest United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s report, Finland’s total emissions declined slightly in 2007 from 79.9 teragrams of carbon dioxide equivalent (Tg CO2) to 78.3 Tg CO2. Just this month the OECD’s Environment Directorate Director Lorents Lorensten called Finland a pioneer of environmental policy.

Such environmental awareness coupled with a “can-do” attitude make the Finns excellent partners in the fight against global warming. In June 2008, Embassy Science Fellow – US Forest Service Senior Researcher Dr. Alan Rudie – spent several weeks with top Finnish scientists to advance work on the production of biofuel from forest trimmings. Building on this successful collaboration, the US Embassy Helsinki hopes to sponsor another US Forest Service Science Fellow in 2010.

In 2008, Finland joined the Methane-to-Markets program – a public/private partnership in conjunction with the US Environmental Protection Agency that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the cost-effective, near-term recovery and use of methane, while providing clean energy to markets around the world.

In June 2009, the first of three American National Science Foundation (NSF) research fellows will arrive in Finland via the newly established Nordic Research Opportunity Grant. Funded by NSF and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES), the new program will foster closer research ties between US and Finnish scientists.

Landscape of the area of Kayes, in Mali (Photo Credit: Wikimedia)

Needless to say, not much happens during the heat of the day.  But as I sat melting under the shade of a mango tree, mint tea in hand, I couldn’t help but think what an asset all this sunshine could be. A field of solar panels in the Kayes region alone could potentially supply the entire country with much needed electricity. Expand them to Mali’s other regions – over one-third of the country lies in the Sahara Desert – and Mali could produce enough electricity to sell to its neighbors.

I am hardly the first to see the potential of green technology in the developing world.  Over a decade ago, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) called on developed nations to provide financial and technical support to the developing world in mitigating the effects of climate change. Since then 192 countries have ratified the UNFCCC, including the United States in October 1992.      

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been at the forefront of meeting America’s UNFCCC commitments in the developing world. Since 1991, USAID’s Global Climate Change Program (GCCP) has been implementing projects which provide sustainable, climate-related benefits to over 40 developing countries. 

• In Mexico, GCCP projects are reducing GHG emissions through the promotion of solar and wind water pumps for off-grid farm use.
• In Central America, the USAID and NASA-sponsored SERVIR satellite monitoring system provides weather alerts and a fire warning system to assist decision makers tackling climate change issues.
• In South Africa, USAID solar water heaters are reducing household energy consumption and costs while providing hot water to households that could not otherwise afford it.

Solar Panels (Photo Credit: Wikimedia)

Such USAID programs have helped avoid the equivalent of over 15 million metric tons of CO2 over the past five years alone. 

Clean technology alone will not transform the developing world – plenty of challenges remain from good governance to health care. But GCCP’s holistic approach to fully integrate clean technology and development, allows developing countries to leap-frog past ecologically unsustainable technology and embrace the future. So maybe ten years from now, when I return to Kayes for another visit, I will be sitting, mint tea in hand, beneath the cool breeze of a solar-powered fan.