Modified version of the original text published 14 February 2023
The Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) has published a new version of the greenhouse gas emission scenario tool (ALasSken). All materials in the tool have been updated to the year 2020 and the basic scenario’s defaults have been checked.
The biggest change from the previous version of the tool is the addition of agriculture scenario features. In the tool, the user can determine changes in the numbers of different animals, the use of fodder that reduces methane emissions for feeding cattle, the use of inorganic nitrogen fertiliser and actions on peat fields.
The peat fields’ scenario view has been divided into restoration carried out on annual, perennial and uncultivated fields, switching the cultivated plant types and the raising of the water level.
For road transport, the fuel type distributions were updated to reflect the latest fossil-free traffic road map’s figures. The mileage model of private cars has been edited so that it more directly reflects the connections between the characteristics of the area’s community structure and mileage.
Baseline development progressions have been predicted for each municipality until 2050 for the scenarios’ changeable accessibility to grocery stores and bus traffic, average distance of commutes, zoned areas and population density of urban areas. In the baseline, van mileage is determined according to population, whereas bus and lorry mileage is kept at the 2020 level.
The tool’s appearance and basic structure have remained largely unchanged. The tool’s home screen directs users to work with larger emission categories. The scenario’s summary, in turn, shows the past emission development as well as the emission reduction target levels and the emission development defined in the scenario up to the target year. In addition, each scenario variable includes the initial level defined in the baseline.
The first version of the tool was published in April 2021. The work has been implemented as part of the Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities and Regions (Canemure) project.
Going forward, the source materials will be updated to reflect the latest final emission data, meaning that advance data will not be updated into the tool, and the defaults of the basic scenario will be reviewed annually.