Finland, for the first time, has expanded its presence with its own pavilion at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). There, it shared, it will be calling for more collaborative action between governments, policymakers, and public and private entities to combat climate change and accelerate the green transition.
In partnership with Finnish companies, Finland will provide insights into its sustainability roadmap and showcase key solutions assisting the country in achieving its ambitious carbon neutrality targets.
Finland and its partner companies are calling for increased action through collaboration ahead of COP28, it shared, and during the Finland Pavilion’s two-week program, green transition leaders, environment and climate change experts, and public and private organisations will share insights into the policies, technologies and innovations that have assisted it in its fight climate change.
It stressed that its message is that more collaboration and action are required to meet the world’s collective climate goals.
Finland shared that between 1990 and 2022, it reduced carbon emissions by 34 per cent and is on track to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035, and that it has set its sights on “tapping into green demand” and “providing innovative solutions” to help organisations and governments worldwide achieve carbon neutrality ambitions.
It highlighted that over 75 per cent of the country’s land area is covered by forest and that it is the only European country with access to all the minerals needed for batteries.
Over 90 per cent of the country’s power generation is already carbon neutral, it noted and it aims to double clean energy production.
“Aiming to ‘plug the smokestacks’ by 2035, the Finnish government is set to introduce policies to ensure CO2 emissions from large industrial sources are eliminated by the mid-2030s, laying the foundation for capturing and circulating bio-based carbon dioxide in hydrogen value chains,” it said.
Adding: “Finland was also the first country to write a roadmap to a circular economy, and its businesses are working strategically on global-scale solutions for clean growth.”
Further, Finland said it has established an attractive environment for investment in a cleaner future, with more than €200 billion of private investments planned in the green transition; this is roughly 70 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Severi Keinälä, Director of COP28 Finland Pavilion at Business Finland, said: “While the concept of a carbon footprint is well understood, and everyone is in agreement that we should be reducing it, Finland is aiming higher than that and encouraging other countries to do the same. We are now focusing on increasing our climate handprint – going beyond achieving carbon neutrality to have a positive effect on the environment. The Finnish government, together with business and industry, will promote the creation of a model for calculating positive climate handprints and setting targets for increasing the handprints of Finnish exports. Our hope is that COP28 will provide the perfect platform for us to go beyond pledges and promises and put together firm plans of action that will enable us to increase our positive impact at a global level.”