Assessing the impact of CO2 emission control scenarios in Finland on radiative forcing and greenhouse effect

Riitta Korhonen, Ilkka Savolainen, Jukka Sinisalo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)


Carbon dioxide emission reduction scenarios for Finland are compared with respect to the radiative forcing they cause (heating power due to the absorption of infrared radiation in the atmosphere). Calculations are made with the REFUGE system model using three carbon cycle models to obtain an uncertainity band for the development of the atmospheric concentration.

The future emissions from the use of fossil fuels in Finland are described with three scenarios. In the reference scenario (business-as-usual), the emissions and the radiative forcing they cause would grow continuously. In the scenario of moderate emission reduction, the emissions would decrease annually by 1% from the first half of the next century. The radiative forcing would hardly decrease during the next century, however. In the scenario of strict emission reductions, the emissions are assumed to decrease annually by 3%, but the forcing would not decrease until approximately from the middle of the next century depending on the model used. Still, in the year 2100 the forcing would be considerably higher than the forcing in 1990. Due to the slow removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by the oceans, it is difficult to reach a decreasing radiative forcing only by limiting fossil CO2 emissions.

The CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in Finland contribute to the global emissions presently by about 0.2%. The relative contribution of Finnish CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to the global forcing due to CO2 emissions is presently somewhat less than 0.2% due to relatively smaller emissions in the past. The impact of the nonlinearity of both CO2 removal from the atmosphere and of CO2 absorption of infrared radiation on the results is discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)797 - 805
Number of pages9
JournalEnvironmental Management
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - 1993
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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