Environmental Damage Fund

The Environmental Damage Fund is an off-budget entity that will be launched on 1 January 2025. Compensations from the Fund will be paid for costs incurred from preventing environmental pollution and restoring polluted environments and for damage caused when compensation cannot be claimed from the liable party. This kind of situation may arise due to insolvency or because the liable party is not known. In addition, discretionary grants are awarded from the Fund to those responsible for organising rescue services for procurements related to preventing environmental damages.

The Environmental Damage Fund will replace the present Oil Pollution Compensation Fund and the compulsory environmental damage insurance.

Environmental liability contribution

The funds for paying the compensations are collected as annual or one-off environmental liability contributions from operators whose activities may pose a risk of environmental pollution. In 2025 one-off environmental liability contributions will be collected to the Fund. The collection of annual environmental liability contributions that will always be targeted to the operations in the preceding year will start in 2026. The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for South Ostrobothnia will serve as the authority responsible for collecting the contributions. 

More information on the payment obligation, determining the contribution, payment categories and collection of the contributions (in Finnish) is available at

• Environment.fi: Environmental liability contribution (in Finnish)

Compensations paid from the Environmental Damage Fund

Compensations from the Environmental Damage Fund are paid for damages and for costs of prevention and restoration if the compensation cannot be collected in full from the liable party laid down by law. In relation to securities, compulsory and voluntary insurance policies and other statutory compensation arrangements, the Environmental Damage Fund is always the last resort for paying compensations. 

The maximum compensation for damages caused by a single pollution event or other similar incident and the prevention and restoration costs is EUR 30 million.

As a rule, compensation from the Environmental Damage Fund must be applied for in writing within three years from the date when it has come to the knowledge of the party suffering damage or the authority that carried out the prevention and restoration measures that compensation cannot be claimed from the party liable for the damage and costs. In certain situations, advance compensation can also be paid from the Fund to authorities for prevention and restoration costs.

Grants paid from the Environmental Damage Fund

The appropriation to be transferred to the Fund from the Budget will be used for grants to be awarded for procurements related to preventing environmental damages. The amount of the appropriation may vary from one year to another. These discretionary government grants can be awarded to wellbeing services counties and the city of Helsinki and to the Government of Åland and municipalities in Åland.

Grants for procuring prevention equipment can be applied for annually between 1 January and 30 June at the haeavustuksia.fi website. The Board of the Fund processes the applications starting on 1 July. Further information on the annual applications for grants will be published on the same website.

Limit for the capital

The limit for the capital of the Environmental Damage Fund is EUR 30 million. When this is exceeded, the collection of environmental liability contributions is interrupted until the capital of the Fund has decreased to EUR 15 million. 

Board of the Environmental Damage Fund

Decisions concerning compensations and grants paid from the Environmental Damage Fund are made by the Board of the Fund, appointed by the Ministry of the Environment for three-years at a time. The Board has a chairperson, vice chairperson and five other members, each with a personal deputy. The chairperson of the Board comes from the Ministry of the Environment. The other members represent central government and municipal authorities, businesses and environmental organisations.