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China in the Arctic; and the Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese-Finnish Arctic Co-operation

A new report “China in the Arctic; and the Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese-Finnish Arctic Co-operation” by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland has been published today. Our postdoctoral researcher Sanna Kopra has contributed to the study, which is a part of the publication series of the Government’s analysis, assessment and research.

The Arctic region is rapidly transforming from a peripheral region to a global theatre with an increasing number of non-Arctic stakeholders. One illustration of this transformation process is the growing presence of China in the Arctic. This report first discusses China’s changing role in global affairs (Chapter 1). This provides background for exploring China’s interests, role and presence in the Arctic. The study of China’s presence in the region is carried out through the lens of the Chinese government’s four priority areas towards the region as expressed in the country’s first official Arctic statement – the White Paper – from January 2018 (Chapter 2). Further, Chinese interests and actions in the Arctic are studied from the viewpoint of one particular Arctic State, Finland. The authors provide an overview of a broad spectrum of Chinese-Finnish interactions in different contexts, including investments in Northern Finland and co-operation within the areas of Finnish Arctic expertise and research. In addition, concerns and risks related to interaction with Chinese actors are discussed (Chapter 3). Over the past decade, China has undertaken an effort to demonstrate its growing knowledge of, and commitment to, the Arctic region. Some actors and experts are concerned about China’s aims and actions in the region, while others express hope for Chinese institutions, investors and companies to contribute to regional development and knowledge-building. The report presents a balanced and multifaceted, although necessarily not fully comprehensive, picture of China’s rise as an actor in the Arctic.

The report is available online.

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Dmitry Yagodin in Berlin

This week our postdoctoral researcher Dmitry Yagodin is visiting Berlin, Germany. Today at the the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) there is an event “In conversation with… Dmitry Yagodin and Konstantin Kaminskij (Humboldt University of Berlin)”, which will discuss climate change discourse in Russia.

Climate change is a politicized issue in many countries. In Russia, the government denies the
anthropogenic causes of global warming, and is unwilling to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Unlike in most other countries, the Russian public discourse also highlights positive effects of
climate change. Dmitry Yagodin, Postdoc at the University of Helsinki’s Aleksanteri Institute,
has been studying the Russian climate discourse and traces the roots of climate change denial at the national and regional levels. In his current work, he focuses on the case of Yamal, the arctic region in northwest Siberia, where the flagship of Russia’s fossil fuel industry is built on frozen ground that is beginning to melt.

Tomorrow, on 13th of February, Dmitry Yagodin will give a talk titled “Climate Change Communication in Russia” at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. The event is part of “Ökologische Kulturen im (post)sowjetischen Raum” (Ecological cultures of (post)Soviet space) series. More information can be found here.

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Ilmastonmuutos selviytymiskysymyksenä

Today Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen will be one of the debaters at the discussion forum  “Ilmastonmuutos selviytymiskysymyksenä” (climate change as a question of survival). The event is a part of talk series “Science meets elections”, organised before legislative elections 2019 in Finland. The forum will try to answer these questions:

  • Miten murros kohti hiilineutraaliutta voidaan saavuttaa? (How can change towards carbon neutrality be achieved?)
  • Miten Suomi varautuu kohtaamaan ilmastonmuutoksen aiheuttamia äkillisiä muutoksia taloudessa ja turvallisuudessa? (How does Finland prepare to face the sudden changes in the economy and security caused by climate change?

The event starts at 15 at Tiedekulma (Yliopistonkatu 3) and is open for everyone.

Recording of the discussion forum is available online.

More information

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Policy Brief “The curbing of black carbon emissions offers many benefits for the Arctic”

Northern Dimension Institute Policy Brief 2 “The curbing of black carbon emissions offers many benefits for the Arctic” was published in January 2019. The policy brief is a result of the “Northern Dimension Future Forum on Environment: Black carbon and Climate Change in the European Arctic” that was organised on 19th of November in Brussels. Professor Tynkkynen was taking part in the Forum, where he gave a presentation “How to reduce black carbon emissions in Russia’s oil and gas industry?”.

Black carbon emissions are a global problem with special significance for arctic regions
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising clearly faster than the global average temperatures. The main reason are increasing amount of greenhouse gases, but black carbon, emitted from incomplete burning, contributes to the warming. It may cause some 20-25% of the warming in the Arctic, both through warming of the atmosphere and by accelerating melting due to reduced reflection of sunrays reaching ice and snow. Important sources of black carbon include transport, residential burning of coal and biomass, oil and gas flaring, and open burning of biomass from wildfires or the open burning of agricultural waste.
The health effects of black carbon emissions are significant. Black carbon is a component of the fine particles that have serious adverse health effects globally. The combined effects on the climate and health have motivated the Arctic Council and the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership to pay special attention to ways of reducing emissions of black carbon. The actions to reduce emissions need to be replicated globally for the positive effects to take effect. Globally residential combustion and transport emissions dominate. In the Arctic region emissions from oil and gas production are also important.
The policy brief is now available online.
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Karoliina Hurri’s blog entry for the website of Tiina and Antti Herlin foundation

Karoliina Hurri wrote a blog entry for the website of Tiina and Antti Herlin foundation about the Katowice Climate Change Conference, that she attended in December.

UN Climate Conference was held in Katowice, Poland, on 3–14. December 2018 The meeting provided the last opportunity for the parties to agree on the rules of the Paris Agreement. For the researcher of politics of global warming, the meeting provided a dream box seat at the core of the climate debate. The atmosphere in Katowice was optimistic but also pressing and slightly anguished.

The full version of report is available online in Finnish.

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Muutokset, katkokset ja jatkuvuudet itäisessä Euroopassa

Sakari Höysniemi has co-written with Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus and Dragana Cvetanović the article “Muutokset, katkokset ja jatkuvuudet itäisessä Euroopassa” (Changes, breaks and continuity in Eastern Europe)  for the latest issue of Idäntutkimus.

In the article they give an overview of the 18th Aleksanteri Conference, organised at the University of Helsinki on 24-26 of October. The writers give account of the keynote speakers’ presentation and of the most interesting panels and events of the conference. Aleksanteri conferences always draw a large number of participants who present high quality research and have fruitful conversations during the event. Soon the call for the Aleksanteri Conference 2019 will be open, stay tuned.

The latest Idäntutkimus issue can be found online here.

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Hy­bri­di­tur­val­li­suu­den Stu­dia Ge­ne­ra­lia: Ener­gia asee­na luento, Jyväskylän yliopisto

Today, on 21st of January, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen will give a lecture at the University of Jyväskylä at their Hybridivaikuttaminen (Hybrid Operations) lecture series. The title of Professor Tynkkynen’s lecture is “Energia aseena” (Energy as a weapon). The event starts at 16:00 at Agora Auditorio 2 (Mattilanniemi 2).

Luento tarkastelee EU:n ja Venäjän energiakauppaa materia- ja rahavirtojen vaikuttavuuksien kautta. Erityinen huomio kiinnitetään sekä energiainfrastruktuurin kautta avautuvaan rajoittavaan vallankäyttöön (kova ‘energia-ase’) että energiavirtojen ja -talouden kautta ylläpidettävään mahdollistavaan vallankäyttöön (pehmeä ‘energia-ase’). Suomen energiakauppa ja -yhteistyö Venäjän kanssa ansaitsee oman osionsa.

More information on the event can be found online here.

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The Barents Observer article with Dmitry Yagodin’s interview

Atle Staalesen, journalist and Director of the Independent Barents Observer, wrote an article “Under surface of Russia’s Arctic super-region is looming disaster” about the “Arctic Media World” congress that took place last December in Salekhard. Our postdoctoral researcher Dmitry Yagodin also attended the congress and was interviewed by Staalesen about the perception of Russians of climate change:

According to Dmitry Yagodin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, there are clear indications that a growing number Russians actually believe that climate change is a natural phenomenon.
He refers to the VCIOM study from 2017 and compares it with data from 2007. In the course of the ten year period, the number of respondents that said the changes are man-made had dropped from 59 percent to 55 percent. Similarly, 30 percent of respondents in the first study said climate change is part of a natural cycle, while in the latter, the number had increased to 35 percent.
«Contrary to expectations, there are today more people that are convinced about natural causes behind climate change,» Yagodin says to the Barents Observer.


In summer 2018 Yagodin spent weeks in the Yamal-Nenets region to get better understanding of local perceptions of climate change. He found a local research community that is actively studying the problem. But little public attention from the regional political establishment.
Yagodin’s key focus is the media and he believes journalists must take part of the blame. He has looked closely at the Russian media discourse since 2005 and found that the number of stories about climate change went up until year 2010. After that, there was a decline of attention.
«There has simply been a decline in interest,» he says. He has no clear answers, but sees a corresponding pattern in the Russian political discourse «If you look at statements from political leaders you see that there has been a turn from the international focus under President Dmitry Medvedev and till today.»
«The image of being a responsible player has changed,» he says.

The full version of the article is available online.

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Chapter in “Kaikenlaista rohkeutta”

Gaudeamus published a new book “Kaikenlaista rohkeutta” (Many kinds of bravery) this year, and Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen contributed to the book with a chapter “Rohkeuden puute ajaa öljyvaltio Venäjän rakentamaan hiilivetykulttuuria” (Lack of courage drives Russian petrostate to build a hydrocarbon culture). The volume is edited by Ilari Hetemäki, Hannu Koskinen, Tuija Pulkkinen, and Esa Väliverronen and is a part of Tieteen Päivät 2019.

Tieteen Päivät 2019 book “Kaikenlaista rohkeutta” examines the frames of courage and daring in society, science, and individuals. In the study, a daring person jumping into the unknown can break past truths or, for example, safely place a spacecraft at its destination after ten years of traveling. On the other hand, a seemingly small act may require an enormous amount of courage: touching a close one or getting your own voice heard in the work community.

More information on the book can be found at the publisher’s website.

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Sanna Kopra on Finnish delegation’s visit to China this week

Sanna Kopra’s comments on the meetings of the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö and the President of China Xi Jinping in China this week were published today in Kauppalehti. The article “Suomalaisyritykset aikovat talviurheilulla Kiinan käyttöön – Yritysdelegaatio matkaa Niinistön vanavedessä” (Finnish companies intend to use China for winter sports – Business delegation’s visit in the wake of Niinistö’s).

President Sauli Niinistö’s visit to China has a high-level seminar on climate change in its programme. According to Kopra, it is interesting whether Niinistö raises black coal issue, which heats up the Arctic in particular. Niinistö has stressed the issue earlier.

Read the article online here.