Objective of the projectThe objective of the project was to increase the share of local renewable resources in respective municipal fuel and energy balances, to abandon the consumption of imported and costly fossil fuels and thus improve the cross-border environmental situation..Main activities• Overview of the local biofuel production infrastructure in the selected municipalities.• Analysis of the raw material potential in the selected municipalities.• Comparative analysis of the existing Russian and Finnish biofuel production technologies.• Analysis of consumer markets, biofuel delivery logistics and sales (in Karelia and Finland), and development of respective recommendations.• Elaboration of business plans for biofuel production and sales.• Development of training and consulting materials for training of selected target groups.• Transfer of the respective Finnish know-how and knowledge to Karelian stakeholders in the form of training sessions and study tours.• Analysis of biofuels export opportunities and elaboration of recommendations for export-import operations.• Monitoring of biofuel deliveries from selected Karelian municipalities to Finnish energy objects.• Networking and information exchange (forums of stakeholders, virtual communication platform, promotional publications, e-databases). Achievements: Representatives of the target groups participated in study Tours, training seminars and in information and final seminars. The main benefit was the obtained knowledge in the field of biofuel technologies and general management of forest resources utilization. Increased knowledge has changed attitudes in favour of biofuel utilization: it is now understood that the opportunities are wide and real. For the energy and biofuel production entities in Finland and Karelia the project as such has given a strong impulse on facilitating the direct contacts and communication between the Finnish and Karelian energy sector actors with the objective to further develop business co-operation and investment activity on both sides of the border. The implementation of the boiler plant construction project will obviously boost the development of local biofuel production industry in Karelian municipalities with strong involvement of the Finnish contractors and equipment and machinery suppliers. In parallel with that, the Finnish energy companies will be expecting the increase of excess biofuel imports from the neighboring Karelian communities as a direct consequence of the local biofuel market improvements.