Finland gives up Neste controlling interest with donation

4 January, the Government of Finland announced that it is donating €50 million worth of shares to a children’s charity in celebration of a century of independence.

The donation reduces their voting rights from 50.1% to 49.7%. Last year Finnish legislators voted to reduce their stake in the company to 33.4%, according to Reuters, the decision was meant to make money available for investment into growth companies.

Some workers opposed the idea of new ownership, threatening to strike for a week in June 2017 for fears of jobs moving from Finland. The strike was cancelled after a meeting was organised between distribution workers and the man responsible for ownership steering, Mika Lintilä.

Neste is seeing some municipalities switching to its fuel wholesale in an effort to improve emission’s reductions and improve air quality.

Espoo, Finland’s second largest city, announced 5 January that it switching its entire diesel fleet to Neste’s MY Renewable Diesel.

"One of the cornerstones of the City of Espoo's strategy is to make Espoo carbon neutral over the next twelve years,” said Harri Tanska, Director of Public Works Department, in a statement. The director is expecting to see a 90% reduction in greenhouse gasses from vehicles after the introduction of the fuel.