Category: Publication

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New article about first 5 years of PEEX

A new article “Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Program: An Overview of the First 5 Years in Operation and Future Prospects”, co-authored by Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, was published in the journal “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY”.

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program was initiated as a bottom-up
approach by the researchers coming from Finland and Russia in October 2012. The PEEX
China kick off meeting was held in November 2013. During its five years in operation,
the program has established a governance structure and delivered a science plan for the
Northern Eurasian region. PEEX has also introduced a concept design for a modelling
platform and ground-based in situ observation systems for detecting land-atmosphere
and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Today, PEEX has an extensive researcher’s network
representing research communities coming from the Nordic countries, Russia and China.
PEEX is currently carrying out its research activities on a project basis, but is looking
for more coordinated funding bases, especially in Russia and in China. The near-future
challenge in implementing the PEEX research agenda is to achieve a successful integration
and identification of the methodological approaches of the socio-economic research to
environmental sciences. Here we give insight into these issues and provide an overview
on the main tasks for the upcoming years.

Read the full article on the journal’s website.

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“Public justification analysis of Russian renewable energy strategies” by Hilma Salonen

Read a new article, written by the reseracher of our group Hilma Salonen. The article titled “Public justification analysis of Russian renewable energy strategies” was published today in the journal “Polar Geography”. 

Hilma Salonen writes in the abstract:

The Russian renewable energy industry has not yet succeeded in breaking through into the domestic market despite its potential, particularly in remote Arctic settlements. This article examines broad issues that influence national policy-makers and provides an analysis of the type of objectives that are emphasized in Russian energy policies. It can be assumed that the priorities behind these objectives have a more stable status than more concrete plans to boost the use of renewables, since they often fail to materialize. In order to discover these priorities, I analyze several relevant policy-making documents with the help of public justification analysis, a method developed to examine public claims made in favor of a certain cause, and the commonly known values that the claim-makers refer to in order to convince others. This paper reveals that Russian energy policy documents tend to emphasize concrete, technical tasks over more abstract, holistic goals. In addition, industrial needs dominate all policies, even those related to socio-economic or environmental issues. I conclude that the tendencies listed above may prevent fundamental structural change in the Russian energy industry, despite the potential of renewable energy, especially in the Arctic regions.

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Indicators for digitalization of sustainable development goals in PEEX program

Geography, Environment, Sustainability journal published an article “Indicators for digitalization of sustainable development goals in PEEX program” written by Sergey N. Bobylev, Olga Yu.Chereshnya, Markku Kulmala, Hanna K. Lappalainen, Tuukka Petäjä, Svetlana V. Solov’eva, Vladimir S. Tikunov and Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen.

This article describes the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program and
indicators for monitoring of implementation and digitalization of Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG) in Russia, especially environmental goals. The authors considered the
possibility of integration and identification of the methodological approaches of the
socio-economic research to environmental sciences. Paper gives insights into the
international framework of the United nations, addreses several relevant indicators to be
monitored in a Russian perspective and summarizes shortly the status of the monitoring
activities and provide an overview on the main tasks for the upcoming years to reach the
sustainable development goals established by the United Nations. The tasks to which
the Goals divided are considered in detail. The indicators of Russian statistics that can be
used to monitor the implementation of these tasks are determined. It is shown, that more
detailed regional analysis and new data is needed in order to quantify the feedbackloops.

The article is available online.

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Russia’s Far North – The Contested Energy Frontier

On the Aleksanteri Institute website an article was published about the new book Russia’s Far North – The Contested Energy Frontier, published earlier this month and edited by professors Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Shinichiro Tabata, Daria Gritsenko and Masanori Goto. This book is a final publication of the  “Russia’s final energy frontier – Sustainability challenges of the Russian Far North” Finnish-Japanese research project.

More information on the book and ordering details are available on the publisher’s website.

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New publication with Professor Tynkkynen’s comments

A group of researchers from the International Centre for Defense and Security published a new report “The Geopolitics of Power Grids: Political and Security Aspects of Baltic Synchronization”, for which Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen was interviewed in June.

In the report the nature of the threat posed by Russia is considered and then it is assessed how resilient each of the two areas—and the synchronization links between them and the Baltics—would be in an environment in which there is persistent coercive and destabilizing pressure on the Baltics and their neighbors.

Read the full report here.

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Article on Politiikasta

Sanna Kopra’s article “Kiinan Arktinen diplomatia pyrkii vähentämään uhkakuvia” (China’s Arctic Diplomacy Seeks to Reduce Threats) was published on Politiikasta. The article observes how China’s recent and anticipated Arctic strategy seeks to increase the transparency of the policy by reducing the mistrust that China’s growing interest in the region has created among the Arctic states.

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Winland blog post

Read Sakari Höysniemi’s new post “Mikä on valtion rooli energiamurroksessa?” (What is the role of the state in the energy transition?) on Winland blog page.

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Energy, Supply Security and Geopolitical Shifts report

A report “Energia, huoltovarmuus ja geopoliittiset siirtymät” (Energy, Supply Security and Geopolitical Shifts) by Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen and Sakari Höysniemi from the research group on Russian environment and others was published. The report is a part of Energy and Supply Security project financed by the Prime Minister’s Office and can be accessed from here.

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Policy brief

Policy brief “Global energy transitions and Russia’s energy influence in Finland” by Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Katri Pynnöniemi and Sakari Höysniemi. Read the full policy brief here.

This study argues that in a condition of a rapid energy transition Russia’s possibility to use energy trade as leverage
diminishes. Therefore, a slow transition to a renewables-dominated world economy is in the interest of Russia.

Energy has always been an essential part of geopolitics. Transitions in energy markets and new technologies can have a significant impact on the geopolitical balance and national security by affecting countries’ energy trade, economy and security of supply. For example, combatting global climate change has already had and will continue to have an impact on the demand for hydrocarbons. Decreasing demand can put financial pressure on countries with economies dependent on the export of hydrocarbons, and this may create political instabilities. Simultaneously, political decisions to financially support energy production from renewable sources, mainly wind, have reduced countries’ dependency on fossil fuel imports and paved the way for a wave of competitive renewable energy sources.

This policy brief is based on the second phase of a three-phase study on the changing geopolitics of energy.

The first phase of the study involved performing a global, market-based analysis and developing three scenarios: base scenario, rapid development and slow development until 2040. The second phase of the study assesses the impacts of these strategic shifts from the point of view of Russia’s energy and security policies. Moreover, the policy brief analyses how
Russia is using control of its energy resources and flows of traded energy commodities to exert political leverage in conflict situations. Knowledge of leverage and dependencies in energy trade makes it possible to carry out the third analytical phase, i.e. to propose measures that simultaneously promote the energy transition and energy security in Finland.

 

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Sustainability of Arctic towns and the challenges of learning

A new book “Oppimisen tulevaisuus” (The future of learning) with a chapter “Arktisten kaupunkien kestävyys ja oppimisen haasteet” (Sustainability of Arctic towns and the challenges of learning), co-written by Stephanie Hitztaler and Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, was published this month by Gaudeamus.

“Oppimisen tulevaisuus” is edited by Hannu Savolainen, Risto Vilkko & Leena Vähäkylä, more information about is is available here.