The activities of the Regional State Administrative Agencies will end at the end the year 2025. Most of our tasks will be transferred to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency, which will launch its operations on 1 January 2026. Tasks related to animal health and welfare and to food will be transferred to the Finnish Food Authority. Competition and consumer administration tasks will be transferred to the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority.
Read more: Reform of regional state administration
We provide guidance and advice on questions related to net-zero projects, including what kinds of permits are needed for a net-zero project and how the permit process progresses.
We also coordinate the permit-granting process for net-zero projects and monitor that the permits are processed within the time limit. If necessary, we can extend the time limit.
You can contact us by email at [email protected].
Net zero refers to a situation where greenhouse gas emissions emitted into and removed from the atmosphere are balanced. In this context, the EU has adopted the Net-Zero Industry Act. The Act aims to ensure that the EU rapidly builds more manufacturing capacity for the technologies, equipment and components needed to produce carbon-neutral energy.
Net-zero projects include
Net-zero technologies include:
The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on net-zero industry in Europe entered into force on 29 June 2024. The Regulation is referred to as the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA).
The Net-Zero Industry Act is based on the European Union Green Deal and aims to ensure the safe and sustainable supply of net-zero technologies in the European Union.
The Act is linked at the bottom of this page.
The Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland is the national point of contact authority for net-zero projects.
The point of contact authority provides guidance and coordinates the permit-granting processes for net-zero projects. We will monitor the time limits for the procedures and, if necessary, we can extend the time limit.
You can send us questions and documents to [email protected].
Please use secure email when sending documents containing confidential or otherwise sensitive information. The maximum size of email messages, including attachments, is 50 MB. Larger files should be compressed or sent in multiple emails. Please remember that any information sent to us by email is at the sender’s risk.
You can also send documents by post to:
Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland
Environmental permits
P.O. Box 2, 13035 AVI
The status of a net-zero strategic project can be obtained by a project that contributes to achieving the objectives set out in the Net-Zero Industry Act and meets at least one of the criteria below. For example A 1 or B 2.
A) the project adds manufacturing capacity in the Union for a net-zero technology,
B) the project has a clear positive impact on the Union’s net-zero industry by providing access to new or best available technology, and the project
C) the project manufactures net-zero technologies through practices that implement improved environmental sustainability and performance or circularity features, including comprehensive low-carbon, energy, water or material efficiency and practices that significantly and permanently reduce emission rates of CO2-eq.
The status of a net-zero strategic project can also be granted to a CO2 storage project or a related CO2 capture or transport infrastructure project.
The CO2 storage project has to meet all of the following criteria:
The party responsible for a project can apply for strategic status for the project. The application is submitted in the European Union’s common application system. The application has to include:
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment makes a decision on recognition as a strategic project. The party responsible for the project has to submit the application and decision on the strategic status to the point of contact authority for information.
A link to the European Union’s application system and to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s net-zero page can be found at the end of this page.
A net-zero project may require several different permits and administrative procedures. including
The party responsible for a project can submit permit applications and related documents electronically via the Luvat ja valvonta (Permits and Supervision) service and via the e-service channels of the authority processing the matter.
The service is developed continuously to better meet the needs of operators and authorities alike. The aim of the development work is to offer customers permit and supervision services in a single e-service and to streamline cooperation between authorities.
Customer service for environmental matters provides guidance on initiating matters and answers questions and feedback.
The Permits and Supervision service is linked at the bottom of this page.
The time limits for net-zero projects’ permit-granting process are as follows:
The time limits for net-zero strategic projects’ permit granting process are as follows:
As a rule, net-zero projects that have received strategic status get priority in the environmental and water permit processing at the Regional State Administrative Agency without a separate application. In net-zero projects classified as a green transition projects, priority must be applied for separately, and a DNSH report must be attached to the application. Such a project may include the manufacture of battery materials or carbon capture. A link to the instructions on how to apply for priority processing can be found at the end of this page.
The calculation of the time limit includes all permits and administrative procedures necessary for the building, extension, conversion and operation of net-zero manufacturing projects and net-zero strategic projects. These include the environmental impact assessment, environmental permit, building permit, chemical and grid connection permits.
The calculation of the time limit begins when the relevant authority has determined that the first permit application contains the adequate information to process the matter or when the environmental impact assessment report has been submitted to the relevant authority. The calculation of the time limit ends when the authority processing the matter issues its decision on the last application. Appeals are not included in the calculation of the time limit.
We will prepare a detailed schedule for the permit procedure in cooperation with the authorities processing the matter. We will prepare the schedule within two months of the date of receipt of the application. We will publish the schedule on this webpage.
If necessary, we can extend the time limit for the permit-granting process by three or six months. The authority processing the matter can submit a justified request for an extension of the time limit.
The time limit can be extended
If we extend the time limit, we will notify the party responsible for the project. We will accompany the notification with the grounds for the decision and an estimate of when the matter will be decided.
The authority processing the matter has to comply with the time limits for the permit-granting process.
In addition, the authority processing the matter has to inform us of:
We will prepare a schedule for the permit procedure together with the authorities processing the matter.
A decision made by the authority processing the matter may be appealed or rectified in accordance with applicable legislation. The instructions for appeal are attached to the decision.
Environmental and water permit matters subject to priority processing shall be processed as urgent cases in the appeal courts in relation to other environmental and water permit matters.
Various dispute resolution procedures can be used to resolve potential conflicts, for example in the early stages of a project. Dispute resolution is voluntary, and it can be agreed upon by the party responsible for the project and the other parties to the dispute.
Financing for net-zero projects can be applied for from various parties. You can find information on funding opportunities on the following websites, among others.
Instructions on taxation and labour legislation are available on the following websites, among others.
This website has been published as part of a project funded by the Ministry of the Environment with funding sourced from the European Union’s NextGenerationEU.
