About the HIKET Project

HIKET is a joint consortium project of the University of Helsinki, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The project enhances the monitoring of carbon balances in Finland’s land use sector, aiming to provide a more reliable knowledge base for climate policy and decision-making.

Carbon sinks play a key role in mitigating climate change. In Finland, the monitoring systems and knowledge base are already strong, but by increasing measurements, refining calculations, and strengthening cross-organizational cooperation, it is possible to deepen the understanding of changes in carbon stocks and to support climate policy decision-making, particularly in relation to the land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector.

The Holistic infrastructure for knowledge on land-use sector carbon sinks and emissions tracking (HIKET) project addresses this need by improving carbon balance monitoring systems and providing more accurate information on uncertainties related to greenhouse gas measurements.

Key Activities

  • Development of the measurement network: Assessing the observational capacity of the existing network, adding new monitoring stations, and improving its overall functionality.
  • Comprehensive use of data and models: integrating existing measurement datasets, including satellite data and other remote sensing products with calculation models to enable more accurate and consistent monitoring and projections of greenhouse gas dynamics both on national and EU level.
  • Comparative data for the Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI): Producing independent reference data to identify uncertainties in the GHGI calculations and to support their long-term development.
  • Data accessibility and strengthened collaboration: Building an interface for sharing research data and methodologies to facilitate their use in research, decision-making, and new knowledge-based commercial solutions.

Project Impact

The HIKET project strengthens Finland’s national research infrastructure, improves the accuracy, continuity, and comparability of measurement data, and creates a solid foundation for enhanced inter-organizational cooperation. Open and interoperable systems support climate policy risk management and decision-making in Finland and promote the development of land use sector carbon balance data at the EU level.