According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming must be limited to 1.5 degrees as higher warming would cause irreversible damage across a number of areas, including global food production. Now is the time to ramp up action: progress must be made during the course of the next government’s term in office. Public procurement, citizen engagement and improving the effectiveness of EU climate policies are the key areas that we believe should form the core of the next Finnish government’s efforts on climate change.
CLC with large networks of signatories proposes EU to agree upon a clearly articulated set of long-term goals: the EU should set a target for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, to agree on a binding carbon budget for the remaining GHG emissions and to revise and align the 2030 and 2040 targets with the net-zero target.
– The divergent nature of national policies means they do not attract emissions reduction investments efficiently enough. In the absence of the appropriate market mechanisms, it is difficult for the non-ETS sector to deliver emissions reductions in a cost-effective manner. During Finland’s EU presidency, the government should initiate a study on how a more systemic solution could be planned and implemented for the period after 2030, says Jouni Keronen, Executive Director of CLC.
Almost 70% of Finland’s total carbon footprint is attributable to households’ choices. For the government’s efforts on climate change mitigation to yield results, it is important to ensure that individual citizens have the ability to make climate-friendly choices easily in the course of their everyday lives. Public procurement can be used to generate demand for sustainable products and climate-related labelling schemes and thus promote climate-friendly consumption habits.
CLC proposes to prepare and produce guidance and incentives schemes designed to promote low carbon procurement practices and to develop a set of low carbon criteria and a linked climate impact certification system. In addition, we should create a road map of incentives and guidance measures to support people in halving their carbon footprint by 2030 in line with the Finnish Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan (KAISU).
– We should also use multiple communication channels to raise awareness and disseminate information on climate change and the effect of individual choices as well as to encourage citizens to innovate climate solutions, reminds Keronen.
Read the proposal in full length here.
More information:
Jouni Keronen, Executive Director, Climate Leadership Coalition, jouni.keronen@clc.fi, Tel. 050- 4534881
clc.fi
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