Editing Peat (section)

===Finland===
{{Update section|date=January 2022}}[[File:Toppila power plant.JPG|thumb|upright|The [[Toppila Power Station]], a peat-fired facility in [[Oulu]], Finland]]
The climate, geography and environment of [[Finland]] favours bog and peat bog formation. Thus, peat is available in considerable quantities. It is burned to produce [[Peat energy in Finland|heat and electricity]]. Peat provides around 4% of Finland's annual energy production.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statistics Finland – Energy supply and consumption |url=https://www.stat.fi/til/ehk/2021/01/ehk_2021_01_2021-06-30_tie_001_en.html |website=stat.fi }}</ref>

Also, agricultural and forestry-drained peat bogs actively release more CO<sub>2</sub> annually than is released in peat energy production in Finland. The average regrowth rate of a single peat bog, however, is indeed slow, from 1,000 up to 5,000&nbsp;years. Furthermore, it is a common practice to forest used peat bogs instead of giving them a chance to renew. This leads to lower levels of CO<sub>2</sub> storage than the original peat bog.

At 106&nbsp;g&nbsp;CO<sub>2</sub>/[[Joule|MJ]],<ref name="imcg.net">[http://www.imcg.net/imcgnl/nl0702/kap05.htm The CO<sub>2</sub> emission factor of peat fuel] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707134451/http://www.imcg.net/imcgnl/nl0702/kap05.htm|date=2010-07-07}}. Imcg.net. accessed on 2011-05-09.</ref> the carbon dioxide emissions of peat are higher than those of coal (at 94.6&nbsp;g&nbsp;CO<sub>2</sub>/MJ) and [[natural gas]] (at 56.1). According to one study, increasing the average amount of wood in the fuel mixture from the current 2.6% to 12.5% would take the emissions down to 93&nbsp;g&nbsp;CO<sub>2</sub>/MJ. That said, little effort is being made to achieve this.<ref>{{Cite web |title=VTT 2004: Wood in peat fuel – impact on the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions according to IPCC guidelines |url=http://virtual.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/workingpapers/2004/W12.pdf |website=virtual.vtt.fi |date= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010519/http://virtual.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/workingpapers/2004/W12.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2006-12-20}}</ref>

The International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) in 2006 urged the local and national governments of Finland to protect and conserve the remaining pristine peatland ecosystems. This includes the cessation of drainage and peat extraction in intact mire sites and the abandoning of current and planned groundwater extraction that may affect these sites. A proposal for a Finnish peatland management strategy was presented to the government in 2011, after a lengthy consultation phase.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Salomaa |first1=Anne |last2=Paloniemi |first2=Riikka |last3=Ekroos |first3=Eri |date=2018 |title=The case of conflicting Finnish peatland management – Skewed representation of nature, participation and policy instruments |journal=[[Journal of Environmental Economics and Management]] |volume=223 |pages=694–702 |doi=10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.06.048 |pmid=29975897 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2018JEnvM.223..694S }}</ref>