Metsä Group has been awarded €21 million in Finnish government aid for a planned carbon dioxide capture plant at its Rauma pulp mill. A final investment decision could be considered in early 2027 at the earliest.
The aid was allocated through a reverse auction organised by Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Projects were selected based on the lowest amount of support required per unit of planned carbon dioxide capture capacity.
The proposed facility would capture 100,000 tonnes of biogenic carbon dioxide annually from the mill’s recovery boiler flue gases. This CO₂, originating from wood, would be supplied to customers for e-fuel production.
Investment remains conditional
The aid award meets one of the project’s key prerequisites, but the investment remains subject to an environmental permit, completion of capture plant engineering and sufficient market demand. The aid will only be paid if the investment is carried out.
Maria Mroué, Metsä Group’s vice-president of communications and brand, said the positive decision allows the company to continue planning the plant. She described the project as part of an emerging industrial value chain whose market is still developing.
A commercial outlet for biogenic CO₂
The Rauma project would turn an existing mill side stream into a commercial product, supplying wood-based carbon to replace fossil carbon in fuel production.
Metsä estimates that using 100,000 tonnes of captured biogenic CO₂ annually in a fuel value chain would avoid fossil CO₂ emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly 30,000 passenger cars.
Metsä Group is a Finnish forest industry group whose parent company, Metsäliitto Cooperative, is owned by approximately 90,000 forest owners. Its operations include pulp, paperboard, tissue and greaseproof papers, wood products, and wood supply and forest services. In 2025, Metsä Group reported sales of €5.8 billion and employed approximately 8,800 people.
