Development and testing of the calculation tool for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from Finnish sawmills
Krimer, Alexandra (2024)
2024
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202404237284
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202404237284
Tiivistelmä
Climate change is caused by anthropogenic emissions, and many countries in the European Union, including Finland, prepare strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Finnish sawmill industry, which is a significant part of the Finnish economy, aims to reduce its impact on climate change before 2035 by decreasing its emissions by half. One of the methods to determine the influence of Finnish sawmills’ operations on climate change is to conduct carbon footprint inventory.
The commissioner of this thesis project had identified a need to develop a tool which enables Finnish sawmills to understand their CO2-equivalent status, as there has yet been no solution tailored for Finnish sawmilling companies, one that may be used by sawmill managers unfamiliar with GHG emissions calculations.
The objective of this thesis project was to create a Microsoft Excel-based calculation model for estimating GHG emissions released from Finnish sawmills’ activities in the year 2022. The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard was taken as the basis for the calculation tool. Sawmill companies’ sources of GHG emissions were identified from the literature, and from visiting and observing the operations of three sawmills located in different parts of Finland.
Additionally, the calculation tool was tested on a real sawmill in order to identify possible flaws and find suggestions for improving the calculation model. The pilot project was run on a middle-sized sawmill, located in the North Savo region of Finland.
The commissioner of this thesis project had identified a need to develop a tool which enables Finnish sawmills to understand their CO2-equivalent status, as there has yet been no solution tailored for Finnish sawmilling companies, one that may be used by sawmill managers unfamiliar with GHG emissions calculations.
The objective of this thesis project was to create a Microsoft Excel-based calculation model for estimating GHG emissions released from Finnish sawmills’ activities in the year 2022. The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard was taken as the basis for the calculation tool. Sawmill companies’ sources of GHG emissions were identified from the literature, and from visiting and observing the operations of three sawmills located in different parts of Finland.
Additionally, the calculation tool was tested on a real sawmill in order to identify possible flaws and find suggestions for improving the calculation model. The pilot project was run on a middle-sized sawmill, located in the North Savo region of Finland.