Charting Espoo’s transition from coal to zero emissions

“We started this journey together in 2017 when we decided to cut carbon dioxide emissions in heat production – at a time when legislation and the prices still bolstered the use of fossil fuels. Over the decade, the dominance of fossil fuels has clearly weakened. In Espoo, the key to reducing fossil fuel use has taken shared vision and goal-oriented cooperation. The programme has shown that it is possible to quickly phase out fossil fuels,” said Pasi Laitala, director of strategy and development at the City of Espoo.

The City of Espoo is not an owner in any energy company, which means that the city has no direct control over the energy system like in municipalities that have full or part ownership in an energy company. The development of the energy system in a growing city requires close cooperation with many actors.

“Our shared target state with the City of Espoo has streamlined planning and permit processes, among others, and created the prerequisites for new production investments,” said Markus Rauramo, CEO of Fortum.

“A considerable decrease in the specific emissions from the production of district heating will also mean that climate emissions will decrease in the entire city of Espoo by 2030”

“This has helped modernise district heating and keep it as a competitive, popular option for the residents of Espoo. Some great recent examples are the Nuijala heating plant and the heat pump plant for the Hepokorpi data centre which started operating this year and which are already producing heat using electric boilers and air-to-water heat pumps. Espoo is a pioneer in introducing electricity-based solutions to heating even on the global level.”

City of Espoo reports on its website that emissions from district heating are going to continue decreasing in the coming years, especially once it becomes possible to utilise waste heat from the planned data centre. It adds that once the recovery of waste heat increases in stages to meet the planned extent, utilised waste heat from Microsoft’s data centres will cover about 40 per cent of Espoo’s district heating needs in the future. Calculations indicate that the specific emissions of district heat production will fall to zero in Espoo by 2030.

“A considerable decrease in the specific emissions from the production of district heating will also mean that climate emissions will decrease in the entire city of Espoo by 2030. This highlights the important role that energy solutions have in achieving the city’s climate goals and represents an exceptionally impressive achievement in reducing emissions in the city, even in global comparisons,” said Mykkänen.