After years of struggle, Finnish company Finnpulp has now abandoned its project for a new pulp mill in Kuopio, in Eastern Finland. The plans provided for the construction of a biorefinery with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons of softwood pulp and significant volumes of biochemicals and green electricity. The company expected the investment cost to total 1.6 billion EUR.
The greenfield mill will not be constructed. The company announced that it had given away the site agreement with the City of Kuopio for the planned mill area. Finnpulp has also abandoned preliminary agreements with the owners of the neighbouring properties. «After this, the company does not have any other agreements or plans pending in Kuopio» says CEO Martti Fredriskon.
Finnpulp did not explain its decision. It is known, however, that the company encountered several obstacles in its attempt to build the bioproduct mill. Finnpulp submitted the environmental impact assessment for the pulp mill back in 2015. In late 2019 and despite the go-ahead from the regional administration, the company was denied environmental approval, which put the project in jeopardy. Earlier this year, the Finnish administrative court again issued a decision rejecting Finnpulp’s application for annulment of the negative environmental permit.