The Finnish Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (expects the Finnish Government and Parliament to take quick action for increasing both supply and demand for bioenergy. Such decisions are important for Finland, because within the framework of the EU climate targets we have committed ourselves to increase the share of natural resources in energy production from the present 28 % to 38 % until 2020.  
A major part, i.e. about two thirds, of the production increase of renewable energy can be based on wood chips, which is the most important source of bioenergy. In addition, we also need energy from arable land, biogases, as well as wind and hydroelectric power.

In order to increase the use of bioenergy, measures impacting on both supply and demand side are necessary. MTK urges the Finnish Government to take the following measures:

• A price guarantee system for small scale production of wood based energy, like for electricity produced by wind power and biogases

• More investment support for projects for increasing production of bioenergy
• Manyfold support for harvesting energy wood

The EU climate targets also provide that the share of biofuels in motor traffic shall be 10 % in 2020. MTK proposes that biodiesel as motor fuel should in the future be produced from domestic wood and not from palm oil.

Bioenergy is also very important for regional economies. Enterprises in this sector create 10,000 - 15,000 new jobs in the whole production chain. Increased use of wood chips alone will create new jobs for 7,000 persons.