Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 11 per cent in the emissions trading sector and by five per cent in the effort sharing sector in 2025

Emissions in the energy sector continued to decrease

According to the instant preliminary data, total emissions without the land use sector fell by seven per cent in 2025 from the previous year. Emissions have fallen by 49 per cent from the comparison year 1990 and by 57 per cent from 2003, when emissions were at their highest during the 1990 to 2025 time series. Total emissions do not include land use sector emissions and removals, unless separately mentioned. In the instant preliminary data, the data on emissions and removals for 2025 are calculated at a less detailed level and with less detailed methods (in Finnish) than the data for the preceding years.

The energy sector, including transport, was the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Finland, accounting for 66 per cent (24.1 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent) of total emissions in 2025. Emissions in the sector went down by 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent from 2024, which corresponded to a fall of nearly 10 per cent. Consumption of coal, peat, oil and natural gas decreased. Consumption of hard coal decreased in particular: for hard coal, emissions caused by incineration decreased by 0.7 million tonnes of CO₂. The decrease in emissions was affected by the growth in the production of wind power and increased net imports of electricity. More information on the development of energy consumption can be found in the release of the energy statistics published on 16 April 2026.

In 2025, emissions from transport decreased by 0.7 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent mainly as a result of an increase in the biofuel share of motor gasoline and diesel and a fall in the consumption of the fuels in question.

Emissions from industrial processes and product use (incl. F gases) made up around 13 per cent (4.7 million tonnes of CO₂ eq.) of total emissions in 2025 and they grew by nearly three per cent (0.1 million tonnes of CO₂ eq.) from the previous year. The main reason for the increased emissions was the growth of nearly 16 per cent in emissions from the mineral industry (0.1 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent), which resulted from growing clinker production needed for the manufacture of cement. In the chemical industry, emissions grew by seven per cent, while in the metal industry, emissions remained almost on level with the previous year.

The share of emissions of F gases was close on two per cent (0.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent) of total emissions in 2025 and they fell by 13 per cent compared to 2024. Emissions from the use of refrigeration and cooling equipment in retail trade and emissions from air conditioning equipment in vehicles fell most. In particular, the transition to natural or alternative refrigerants has decreased F gas emissions in the past ten years. Emissions from the use of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment accounted for around 91 per cent of the emissions of F gases.

Emissions from agriculture accounted for around 17 per cent (6.3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent) of total emissions calculated without the land use sector in 2025. Total emissions from agriculture fell by around two per cent from the previous year's level. A small decrease in the number of animals reduced emissions from both enteric fermentation and manure management.

The share of emissions from the waste sector was four per cent (1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent) of total emissions without the land use sector in 2025. The falling trend of the waste sector continued as emissions decreased by eight per cent from the previous year.

Land use sector

According to the instant preliminary data, the sum of emissions and removals in the land use, land-use change and forestry sector, or the LULUCF sector was 9.4 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2025, which means that the sector was a net emission source as in the preceding years. The sector's emissions diminished by 0.3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent compared to the previous year.

In forest land, emissions exceeded the amount of carbon sequestration in different pools during the year, that is, forest land was a net emission source in 2025 similarly as the other land use categories. Net emissions from forest land were 1.3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, which was 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent more than in the year before. The net sink of biomass pool of living trees decreased by 0.9 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent compared to the sink previously reported for 2024. Net emissions originating from carbon stock changes in soil, litter and dead wood pools on mineral and organic soils together increased by 0.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. This growth is due to the fact that the forest litter input has remained fairly stable, while the long-term average temperature has continued to rise, which has increased decomposition.

Net emissions from cropland amounted to 8.2 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2025, which is three per cent lower than in 2024. For cropland, changes in carbon stocks were calculated for mineral soils, while emission estimates based on the surface areas of the previous year were used for organic soils, that is, peat land. Mineral soils on cropland do not have a clear long-term trend, but annual changes are caused by variations in the crop yield and weather.

The net sink of harvested wood products in 2025 (-3.7 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent) increased by 73 per cent from the previous year due to growing production of sawn wood and chemical pulp. The production volumes of 2024 were used for wood-based panels.

In the calculation of the instant preliminary data, instant preliminary estimates for 2025 were calculated for forest land, cropland and harvested wood products, while the figures for 2024 were used for the other land use categories. The estimate of emissions and removals in the land use sector will become revised in the next release, when updated data on surface areas, growing stock and harvested wood products are available for the calculation. In addition, the results of forest land for 2024 will be corrected in the next release because of the correction to the roundwood removals and drain statistics. Further information about the instant preliminary data of the agriculture and land use sector can be found in Luke's news item (in Finnish).

Annually tightening of emission allocations in the effort sharing sector

Total emissions (excl. land-use sector) are divided in EU reporting into emissions from the EU's general Emissions Trading System (ETS1) and emissions in the effort sharing sector. According to the instant preliminary data, emissions in the effort sharing sector amounted to 24.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2025, and they fell by close on five per cent from the previous year. Emissions included in the EU's Emissions Trading System fell by 11 per cent from the previous year, being 11.9 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

The EU's Effort Sharing Regulation defines the emission reduction targets for the effort sharing sector. Annual, tightening emission allocations have been set for all Member States. The instant preliminary data for 2025 on Finland's emissions in the effort sharing sector are 0.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent higher than the annual emission allocation set for the year in question.

Instant preliminary data will be revised in future

In the instant preliminary data, the emissions and removals for 2025 are calculated at a less detailed level and with less detailed methods than the data for previous years. They will be specified as all data used in the calculation are completed. Preliminary data of the statistics on greenhouse gases will be released in December 2026 and official data in March 2027. More detailed information about the calculation methods of the instant preliminary data can be found in the methodological description (in Finnish).

Greenhouse gas inventory

Statistics Finland is the national responsible unit of the greenhouse gas inventory. Statistics Finland guides the inventory work, and compiles and submits the data to the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement and the EU Commission. Statistics Finland (in Finnish), the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke, in Finnish) participate in the production of the statistical data for the greenhouse gas inventory.