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Neova Oy

Neova

Neova on kansainvälisillä markkinoilla toimiva suomalainen yritys.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Pekka Toveri (Member of the European Parliament) and Maa- ja metsätaloustuottajain Keskusliitto – Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners

11 Dec 2025 · Current Topics in EU

Response to European Climate Law amendment

10 Sept 2025

Neova Group is Europes leading peat producer, transforming peat into high-value products such as growing media, biostimulants, activated carbon, and animal feed additives. Neova conducts responsible peat production in areas previously drained for agriculture or forestry and characterised by low biodiversity. Following extraction, these areas are usually rewetted or afforested, enabling them to become carbon sinks within 1020 years . Neova is also investing in the development of renewable energy solutions, solar and wind power. Our subsidiary, Kekkilä-BVB, is Europes leading producer of professional and consumer growing media. We welcome the European Commissions proposed target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 and support the EUs overarching goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Neovas portfolio contributes to these goals by enabling climate-resilient and resource-efficient food and plant production, supporting afforestation, soil health, and urban greening, purifying air and water, and accelerating the uptake of renewable energy. We emphasise that the EUs climate objectives must be pursued in a science-based, economically viable, and socially just manner, ensuring the resilience of European industry, agriculture, and rural communities. Sustainable Peatland Management in the Green Transition As Europes leading peat producer, Neova manages significant peatland and wetland areas. Former extraction sites offer excellent potential for renewable energy investments, particularly solar and wind power. To facilitate faster progress toward emissions reduction targets, the EU and Member States should streamline and accelerate the planning and permitting processes for renewable energy projects. Neova is also actively exploring the potential of paludiculture, wetland cultivation practices on peatlands, which can contribute to carbon sequestration while supplying sustainable biomass to the growing media market. The potential role of international carbon credits in the EUs climate framework should not hinder the development of robust domestic voluntary carbon markets. The future EU and national frameworks for carbon removals should recognise both permanent and temporary removals, especially those achieved through carbon farming. These practices are already widely available to European farmers and landowners and offer dual benefits for carbon sequestration and biodiversity enhancement. To unlock their full potential, we call for clear incentives and a well-functioning market for carbon and nature credits, which are essential for driving emissions reductions in the land use sector. Emissions from Peatlands and the Land Use Sector Adopting the 90% net emissions reduction target will significantly influence future EU climate policies and sector-specific reduction commitments. For the land use sector, this underscores the need for harmonised and transparent monitoring and reporting of emissions across Member States. Inconsistencies in LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry) emissions accounting risk undermining the credibility and effectiveness of EU climate policy. Specifically, the methodologies used to assess emissions from peatlands, especially the life-cycle emissions of horticultural peat, must be revised. Current models often overestimate emissions, leading to inaccurate reporting in many Member States. Updated, science-based models are essential to ensure accurate, fair, and effective policy implementation.
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Meeting with Maxi Espeter (Cabinet of Commissioner Christophe Hansen), Taru Haapaniemi (Cabinet of Commissioner Christophe Hansen) and Aula Europe

14 May 2025 · Neova’s priorities in growing media materials (substrates) and their importance for European growers

Meeting with Pekka Toveri (Member of the European Parliament) and European Food Forum

19 Mar 2025 · Current Topics in EU politics

Meeting with Elsi Katainen (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Dec 2024 · Turveasiat

Meeting with Stefan Köhler (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion) and Eurogroup for Animals and

1 Oct 2024 · Politischer Austausch

Meeting with Maria Guzenina (Member of the European Parliament)

1 Oct 2024 · Resources and materials

Meeting with Elsi Katainen (Member of the European Parliament)

1 Oct 2024 · Ajankohtainen maatalouspolitiikka

Meeting with Irène Tolleret (Member of the European Parliament)

26 Oct 2023 · Alimentation durable

Meeting with Marlene Mortler (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

31 Jan 2023 · Food Security

Meeting with Elsi Katainen (Member of the European Parliament)

27 Oct 2022 · Ajankohtaiset EU-asiat

Response to Sustainable use of pesticides – revision of the EU rules

21 Sept 2022

Neova Group’s Grow & Care division Kekkilä-BVB welcomes the Commission’s efforts to reduce the harmful impacts of pesticides in the European Union. Kekkilä-BVB however wishes to emphasise an important aspect of the problem it feels has received too little attention in the legislation: the residuals of herbicides (including clopyralid) that are found more and more in growing media (potting soil), organic fertilisers, and in chicken and cow manure across Europe. Growing media is used to grow vegetables, fruits, trees, and ornamentals in greenhouses, open fields and at homes. The rising level of detected herbicides is resulting from the increasing use of circular and organic raw materials (e.g., green compost and manure), the emerging use of herbicides, and the use of more advanced testing methods. Currently there are no horticultural industry-wide limits for herbicides or fertilisers in growing media or commonly shared testing methods. Increases of unwanted substances can lead to crop losses for professional and hobby gardeners, weaken the trust of retailers in the growing media industry, make it more difficult for horticultural products to meet safety regulations, and make circular and organic products more difficult and riskier to produce. Residuals of herbicides are especially harmful for sensitive plants (e.g., tomatoes). Detecting the problems caused by herbicides is challenging due to the low levels needed to cause damage to plants. This is especially true in soil products where herbicides are diluted and extremely difficult to detect. The applied method for detection should be bioassay instead of chemical analysis. It should also be taken into account that a product can contain several different herbicides and their sum effect can be different from each components individual effect. The EU has set maximum residue limits for pesticide residues in food and feed. These limits are not applicable for the horticultural industry since herbicides are designed to harm plants and not humans. This means that food may contain enough herbicides to kill a plant but still be safe for the humans eating it. Kekkilä-BVB emphasises that the EU should: • Set a limit for herbicides in growing media, that takes into consideration plant and soil health and the need for new innovative growing media raw materials. • Promote fast, affordable, and reliable bioassay methods to detect herbicides.
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Response to Protecting biodiversity: nature restoration targets

22 Aug 2022

Neova Group welcomes the Commission’s efforts to set ambitious peatland and wetland restoration targets and supports the Commission in guaranteeing sustainable peatland management in Europe. Neova emphasises that any EU-wide legislation needs to take into account national specificities and minimize any potential negative impacts for industry, private property or food production. Achieving the set targets also requires significant amounts of EU-funding to be directed towards Member States and industry actors. Neova Group is highly experienced in peatland restoration, which brings dual benefits both in biodiversity enhancement and carbon sequestration. Following its biodiversity program, Neova will restore to wetland 2000 hectares of old peat production areas between 2021–2025, in addition to the 2700 hectares of old peat production sites restored into wetlands in the past 25 years. Peat production sites restored into wetlands have proven to be essential habitats for a multitude of different bird, plant, and insect species. Neova will also move 20 000 hectares of closed peat production areas to their next land-use by 2025, thereby increasing biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions. Finland has over 9 million hectares of bogs and peatlands, covering one third of its total land area. Approximately 45% is undrained, from which 14% is already protected by law. Some 20 000 hectares are still in energy peat production due to the war in Ukraine and the following lack of Russian energy imports. Today, less than 15 000 hectares are active peat production areas, which are necessary for food production and for the production of horticultural peat. Horticultural peat is by far the most used and fit for purpose material for growing media (potting soil), which is used to grow vegetables, berries, and trees in greenhouses and in open fields. Some plants, including mushrooms, can’t be grown at all without horticultural peat. Horticultural peat is a safe growing media material, which optimizes the use of water and fertilizers and improves resource efficiency. Horticultural peat is also vital for increasing green urban spaces and tree canopy cover in European cities. Integrating green spaces into buildings and infrastructure currently relies heavily on the unique properties of horticultural peat. Due to Finland’s large total peatland area, the Commission’s most ambitious targets (90/100% restored by 2050) are not realistic for Finland. Restoration efforts of this size would require massive resources and create significant harms for economic activities that depend on the areas in question. Finland has approximately 1 million hectares of peatlands that have been unsuccessfully drained for forestry. These areas have no active production but have too thick peat layers to ever become healthy forests. These unproductive areas should be prioritised when targeting national restoration efforts. Existing topography, hydrology, and bottom soil type influence what is the most suitable next land-use for closed peat production areas. Upcoming EU-legislation should give as wide of a definition as possible for required restoration practises, to ensure that land managers can make the best possible decisions for any individual area, given that the wider goals of the legislation are fulfilled. The EU should also consider whether it is appropriate to measure the success of restoration efforts purely in terms of hectares restored, or whether it should pay more attention to the increase of biodiversity and wildlife populations. Regarding sustainable peatland management, the Commission should involve and encourage effective industry solutions, such as the ‘Responsibly Produced Peat’ (RPP) certification mechanism. Peat industry’s target is that by 2030, a minimum of 95% of peat used in the EU would come from RPP certified production areas. The certification includes fulfilling appropriate after-use measures. ...
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Meeting with Dārta Tentere (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness)

11 May 2022 · Sustainable finance, taxonomy

Meeting with Andreas Schneider (Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski)

11 May 2022 · Horticultural peat’s vital role in EU's food production and food security

Meeting with Elsi Katainen (Member of the European Parliament)

10 May 2022 · role of growing media in Eu´s food production and food security

Response to Update of the 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy

15 Mar 2018

Dear Madam, Sir COFIRING AS AN ELEMENT OF BIOECONOMY STRATEGY The Bioeconomy strategy stresses the point of developing biomass without compromising food security, and finding alternative sources of carbon and energy for bioreactors and other forms of organically produced energy. We welcome the chosen approach. We would, however, like to point out that there is no reference within the strategy to cofiring biomass and fossil fuels together. Cofiring should be considered as one of the ‘complimentary technologies’ often cited in the report. It is important to note that cofiring enables more flexibility in biofuel deliveries and sales together with increased boiler use efficiency. A similar approach has been used successfully in liquid biofuels for transportation, required by the EU, where bio-based biofuels are mixed with mineral oil based fossil fuels. Such an approach allows existing delivery channels as well as existing cars to move step by step from fossil to bio. The same is needed in heat and power production. It is important to allow and encourage existing and new power plants to use a mixture of bio and fossil fuels together to ensure the construction of cost-efficient plants as well as the security of fuel supplies and fuel pricing, in the future, too. This also limits consumer energy poverty. The recent formulation of the Renewable Energy Directive showed that some stakeholders would like to have 100 % bio fueled plants only. Such an approach is too ambitious to achieve in all cases, endangering smooth development and forcing actors to take excessive financial, technical and operational (energy security) risks. For example, in Finland we have 60-70 medium and large-scale CHP plants using more and more biofuels every year. These are multifuel plants, which has enabled actors to take the first steps towards a bioeconomy decades ago. Today we can see that Finland is one of the most advanced bioenergy economies in the world. The Commission Staff Working Document also cites the importance of employment and local knowledge in the bioeconomy. The cofiring approach precisely enables local actors to step in when even small solid biomass quantities can be sold to the plants. If the plants were required to use 100 % biomass at once, the delivery challenges for small local actors would be prohibitive. PEAT - A POSSIBILITY FOR NEW CLIMATE-NEUTRAL PRODUCTS Whilst there are some potential uses for peat within the current strategy, there is a strong insistence on the term ‘renewable’ throughout the strategy. A clearer definition of what is considered biomass would be required for peat-based technology to be able to fully benefit from any element of the strategy. According to the IPS peat is “a heterogeneous mixture of more or less decomposed plant (humus) material that has accumulated in a water-saturated environment and in the absence of oxygen.” When clear, pragmatic and achievable Life Cycle Assessment criteria are set and the criteria for circular economy are defined, CO2-accumulating peat and similar biomass raw materials could be used in a sustainable way in new bioeconomy product development. In Jyväskylä, Finland, 15th of March 2018 Yours sincerely, Jaakko Silpola Senior Specialist Vapo Oy
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Meeting with Grzegorz Radziejewski (Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen) and Aula Europe and Neova AB

29 Apr 2016 · Energy policy matters: ETS-reform, Biomass Sustainability Criteria and LCP Bref