On June 13th 2018, representatives of Nordic businesses, the financial sector and NGOs called on the EU and its Member States to make the European Union Paris Agreementproof, by setting and agreeing on new, sufficiently ambitious climate targets:
• Set a target for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier, taking the IPCC
findings into account.
• Based on the target, to agree on a binding carbon budget for the remaining GHG
emissions.
• To revise and align the 2030 and 2040 targets with the net-zero target.
After the introduction, we opened an opportunity for companies, cities and other non-state organisations to join the initiative. By July 13th, 30 organizations, 20 companies, two pension funds, three cities and a regional council, three universities and an industrial association have joined the initiative.
“Paris agreement, signed by 195 countries was an historic achievement. Now we need to fully implement it. I was pleased to join the Talanoa event on June 13, 2018 in Helsinki and to learn about Nordic actions and initiatives in climate mitigation. The European Union will have a crucial role to play in the coming period of 2018-2020. Its duty is to continue to be a prominent actor on the international scene, and even to take the lead, with China, India and other major stakeholders, in order to show the most relevant path to fulfill our global climate objectives,” comments Laurent Fabius, President COP21 (Paris).
Fortum was the first supporter organization. ”When the climate change accelerates, we urgently need strong systemic, marked based solutions to drive our behavior towards climate neutrality. An extended emissions trading system with an ambitious goal setting and covering all main sectors could do this in an efficient and economic manner,” says Pekka Lundmark, President & CEO, Fortum Corporation.
The initiative got a strong global supporter when Unilever joined in. “We need to redouble our efforts to implement the Paris ambition to stay within 1.5 degrees -and that will require peak
emissions by 2020 and net zero by 2050. It is just smart business to seize the opportunities in this shift to the new climate economy. And EU leadership is needed now more than ever to
drive this higher ambition.” commented Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever. Polman has received several awards for business leadership related to sustainable development and acts as Chair for The B Team and Vice-Chair of the Board of the United Nations Global Compact.
On July 10-11th 2018 the proposal got more publicity when Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, European Commission for Jobs, Investment and Competitiveness, addressed the proposal in
his presentation in Stakeholder consultation high level event for EU strategy for long-term emissions reduction. “We need strong contributions from industries for the transformation
towards climate neutrality. Referring to the proposal by the Nordic finance sector, industries and cities, we need to clarify our objectives to make the regulatory environment more lucrative for investments,” said Katainen.
Climate Action Network Europe, the coalition on climate end energy with over 150 member organisations from 35 European countries and representing over 1.700 NGOs and more than 40 million citizens, supports the initiative. “Climate Action Network Europe share the same objective with the Nordic initiative – EU needs to aim for ”net-zero” at the latest by 2050 and possibly already earlier. The recent phenomena; strengthened storms, floods, ice-melting, heat waves, droughts, and biodiversity problems, caused or accelerated by climate change illustrate what will be a stake – the entire way of our living. I invite all non-state actors to join forces in setting the needed climate objectives for the EU.” says Wendel Trio, Director of Climate Action Network Europe.
If your organisation would like to join, please send the permission to use the name of
your company to any of the following contact persons:
Jouni Keronen, Executive Director, Climate Leadership Coalition
jouni.keronen@clc.fi +358 50 4534881
Nina Ekelund, Executive Director, Haga Initiative
Nina.Ekelund@hagainitiativet.se +46735022464
Jarl Krausing, International Director, CONCITO
jk@concito.dk +45 29896600
Jon Evang, Communications Manager, Zero Emission Resource Organisation (ZERO)
jon.evang@zero.no +47 93401382
Recent Comments