The aim of the Finnish Forest Industry Federation (FFIF) is to make Finland a competitive and innovative environment for the forest industry’s production activities, jobs and investments. The forest industry is pioneering the bio-economy in Finland. The members of the Finnish Forest Industry Federation encompass pulp, paper and paperboard manufacturers of Finland as well as about 80% of all wood product enterprises, such as sawmills and plywood mills (FFIF, 2011a).

For 2011, the federation aims at collective labour agreements for cost competitiveness, and ensuring sufficient energy is available for the paper industry. Other issues include climate policy, cost effectiveness, the surplus availability of domestic timber, education to promote the development of multiple skill sets and an ecological reward programme to promote sustainable production and consumption (FFIF, 2011b).

A paper “The Finnish forest industry – A forerunner in the bioeconomy” describes the importance of forest biomass specifically for Finland. The paper asserts that wood products play a crucial rule in mitigating climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere. Byproducts of sawmills and pulp and paper making as well as wood that is unsuitable for processing make up more than 70% of the renewable energy generated in Finland. The Finnish forest industry is also investing in entirely new production areas such as wood-based biofuels, wood-plastic composites, RFID remote identifiers and nanocellulose technology. It is also reported that over 60% of the paper and paperboard consumed in Finland is recovered. This percentage is higher than the global average recovery rate of 50%. The Finnish forest industry invested over a billion euros in renewable energy and energy efficiency during the years 2000 – 2010 (FFIF, 2011c).

Another paper “The forest industry and energy” describes the Finnish pulp and paper industry’s efforts made towards greater energy efficiency. The Finnish forest industry has cut its CO2 emissions by 40% during 2000s. About 75% of the heat and electricity produced by paper mills is generated from wood-based biofuels in Finland. The Finnish forest industry uses 100% renewable wood raw materials, produces 80% CO2-free electricity, 70% of Finland’s renewable energy and is responsible for 7% of Finland’s total CO2 emissions (FFIF, 2011d).