Catch the Carbon package of climate measures: From developing knowledge and skills to promoting actions through cooperation

The last projects of the Catch the Carbon package of climate measures ended at the end of 2024. The implementation of the knowledge and climate change resilient solutions produced in the package of 180 measures will continue and be further intensified through cooperation in different parts of the country. The processes to support this include the activities of the National Climate Unit of the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres).

The objective of the Catch the Carbon package of climate measures implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in 2020–2024 was to strengthen the competence and knowledge base related to climate work in the land use sector and support agricultural producers, forest owners and other parties who make land use decisions in developing and introducing climate change resilient practices. 

The package included temporary aid for the implementation, developing the inventory and monitoring for greenhouse gases, a multidisciplinary research and innovation programme, information programme formulated in cooperation among the actors in the sector, and practical development projects. 

The projects produced significant amounts of knowledge and skills on climate actions related to agriculture and forestry, wood products, land use changes and wetlands, as well as the carbon market and offsetting systems. In the package a key focus was also on competence building, education and training, and advice.

“Even in the international scale, the Catch the Carbon package and its diverse projects constitute an exceptionally high public investment in the implementation of climate actions and the related research and development activities. The package has provided us a solid basis for improving climate change resilience of agriculture, forestry and other land use, which will also ensure the operating conditions for other economic activities in the sector and the security of supply, as well as create new business opportunities,” says Heikki Granholm, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The aim of the steering instruments and incentives included in the package, such as financial support for afforestation and ash fertilisation in peatland forests, was to contribute to the efforts to strengthen forest and soil carbon sinks and reservoirs. Forestry projects under the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland funded from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) extended the scope of the Catch the Carbon work from sustainability and climate change resilience to strengthening biodiversity. The last projects funded from RRF will continue until the end of 2025.

Networks and exchange of information locally, internationally and across sectors

Catch the Carbon projects were launched through open calls for applications, as part of the performance guidance of institutes in the administrative branch, and through international procurements by the state. About EUR 63 million in funding was awarded to a total of 180 projects. The research-based data and understanding of good practices produced in the projects have been utilised in the formulation and implementation the Climate Plan for the Land Use Sector and development of the greenhouse gas inventory and the related monitoring.

In Finland, information on the projects and the good practices they have produced has been disseminated in various events on the projects and the whole package, through cooperation with the media, targeted communication and interaction, and on AgriHub’s website. Knowledge has been put to practice in advisory services for forest owners and educational institutions, reform of forest management recommendations and farmers’ peer-to-peer networks.

In the last years a stronger focus was placed on the impact of the knowledge explored and developed in the projects, putting the knowledge into practice, advice, and climate work in educational spaces.

The impact accelerator implemented in 2024 produced new solutions for the projects of the research and innovation programme to strengthen the impact of the projects that were in their final stage and transfer of the research knowledge produced to practical applications. To ensure continuity in the research on climate actions in the land use sector, the measures of the research and innovation programme included support for researchers who were at the start of their careers. 

There has also been international interest in the Catch the Carbon package and the knowledge it has produced. The projects and their results have been presented in the side-events of the COP27 and COP28 Climate Conferences, in events organised by the European Parliament and Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, and in bilateral meetings. The Northern European Regional Meeting of the global 4 per 1000 Initiative organised in Helsinki in summer 2023 brought together scientists and experts from all over Europe to discuss topics related to soil carbon sequestration.

Knowledge to support decision-making and good practices for day-to-day work 

Separate external evaluation reports were commissioned on the research and innovation programme and on the development projects. According to the evaluations, the Catch the Carbon projects have significantly strengthened the national knowledge base that supports climate actions and cooperation among different actors.

The evaluations also point out that the package has brought together different actors and stakeholders, strengthened a multidisciplinary approach, promoted competence building, and enabled the inclusion of practical actors in the projects and, through this, in the piloting, development and study of climate actions. 

The impact of the projects has benefited from the fact that the usability of the results was stressed already in the planning stage of the projects. Partly due to the duration of the funding period, however, the impact chains of the projects have not been realised in full. Both evaluations stressed that the next steps should focus, in particular, on the promotion and utilisation of the results of the projects. 

The creation of concrete climate impacts takes time and requires continuous and extensive cooperation. The extent of the impacts and the time frame for their implementation depend on how the knowledge produced will be taken into use among the practical actors and applied in decision-making. 

“On behalf of the Ministry, I wish to again thank all those who have been involved in the work. Now it is important to continue the implementation of the actions, and broad cooperation among all actors in the sector will be needed for this in future as well,” Granholm says.

Work coordinated by ELY Centres continues in regions 

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will continue the implementation of the Climate Plan for the Land Use Sector. The Ministry will disseminate the competence accumulated in the Catch the Carbon package through various processes, including performance and information guidance.

The knowledge produced in the Catch the Carbon package and projects is also used and further developed in the Catch the Carbon community coordinated by the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres). These activities comprise both actions concerning climate change mitigation and strengthening the competence concerning the preparedness, foresight and risk management related to the impacts of climate change, i.e. climate change adaptation in the natural resources sectors.

“In the National Climate Unit we want to strengthen climate work in the land use sector by bringing together different actors involved in climate work to discuss various kinds of themes. This will contribute to the effective utilisation of the knowledge produced in the Catch the Carbon projects and promote the creation of ideas for future work. The knowledge produced in this unique package of measures and the actors who made this happen deserve to be seen and heard,” says Riitta Syvälä, Chief of the National Climate Unit of the ELY Centres. 

The Catch the Carbon projects and their final reports are available on the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s website. More information on the outcomes and results are available on the websites of the project implementers. 
 

Related links:

Climate Plan for the Land Use Sector and Catch the Carbon package

Catch the Carbon projects

Research and innovation programme

Evaluation report on the research and innovation programme (Owal Group 2024, pdf; in Finnish, summary in English)

Impact assessment of the development projects, policy brief (Pellervo Economic Research PTT, Gaia Consulting Oy 2023, pdf)

National Climate Unit of the ELY Centres

Inquiries:

Anna Salminen
Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 
Coordination of the Catch the Carbon package, implementation of climate actions in the land use sector
[email protected]
+358 295 162 002

Johanna Vanhatalo 
Chief Specialist, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Monitoring and reporting of climate actions in the land use sector
[email protected]
0+358 295 162 177

Riitta Syvälä
Chief of the National Climate Unit of the ELY Centres
[email protected]
+358 50 396 9596