Artist’s million-tree goal called a “perfectly decent amount” by climate panel chair

Artist Nina Backman has spent seven years on her participatory art project Miljoonan puun talkoot (Million Tree Bee), distributing saplings across Finland with the aim of planting one million trees. So far, about 200,000 have been planted.

Backman describes the project as her life’s work. This year’s first distribution took place at the Aine Art Museum in Tornio, where 500 spruce, pine, and silver birch saplings were handed out. Recipients took them to private yards, summer cottages, or a city-designated planting site near the museum. The saplings are not intended for commercial forests.

Jyri Seppälä, research professor and chair of Finland’s Climate Panel, told Yle the million-tree target is “a perfectly decent amount” from a climate perspective—but the location matters. Planting in existing commercial forests may have little additional climate impact, as the carbon cycle remains unchanged. However, planting on non-forested land, such as abandoned fields or residential yards, could sequester roughly 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ over 80 years if all million trees survive that long.

Antti Kilpeläinen, associate professor at the University of Eastern Finland, noted that isolated trees bind more carbon per individual but require more space. In northern Finland, slower growth and smaller tree sizes reduce carbon uptake. He also stressed the need to account for carbon lost in thinnings and soil carbon in calculations.

Backman, originally from Helsinki, said her time abroad deepened her appreciation for Finnish nature. A Steiner school graduate, she has planted trees since childhood and believes everyone should contribute to environmental protection. “This is my way of doing something concrete,” she said.