Annual report 2022

CLIMATE LEADERSHIP COALITION IN BRIEF

The Climate Leadership Coalition (‘CLC’) believes that profound transition to a sustainable world is not only possible but also economically justifiable and financially affordable. CLC is the largest non-profit climate business network in Europe, with offices in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Our members strive to be leaders in the fight against climate change in their respective fields. Our goal is to introduce business solutions that together can make a significant positive impact on our planet’s climate.

YEAR 2022

96 members — 19 policy proposals — 30 meetings with member organizations

EUR 1,149,632 in net sales — Offices in three countries — Focus on the EU

Global cost of carbon dioxide — Carbon handprint — Carbon cycles

CEO’S REVIEW

The global economy underwent a number of dramatic changes in 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic and growing political tensions made life more difficult for all our members. CLC continued its determined efforts to curb climate change, facilitate climate-friendly business and build an operating environment that promotes scalable solutions.

We work in close cooperation with our members to come up with new ways for society to accelerate the green transition and reduce emissions. Our members are among the global leaders in the fight against climate change in their respective fields. Our goal is to introduce business solutions that together can make a significant positive impact on our planet’s climate.

Starting my term as CEO on 1 April 2022 was easy thanks to the solid foundation built by my predecessor, Jouni Keronen. We revised our strategy over the summer, which involved setting clearer values and procedures for CLC and identifying our strategic priorities for the latter half of 2022 and the year 2023.

I made a promise when I took over as CEO to meet the heads of all our member organizations, and I am getting very close to meeting that goal. My tour has given me good insight into what our members want, and this has allowed us to make great progress towards the first of our strategic priorities, which is to strengthen member engagement. We have created an intranet portal for our members where they can find all our resources, and we have listened to their wishes and increased the number of face-to-face meetings in Helsinki. Our Member Relations Specialist Senni Raunio and our Office Coordinator Lena Höglund, who joined CLC in the summer, have played especially important roles in this.

Our second strategic priority is to increase lobbying at EU level. This has recently involved, for example, drafting position papers on land use and communicating our views to the European Commission. The process has been coordinated by our Development Director Juha Turkki and Agriculture Specialist Minttu Liuhto. We also felt that it was important for us to have a say in Finland’s national politics in 2022 and consequently enlisted the help of one of our newest members, Boston Consulting Group, to produce an analysis of the priorities identified in the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland, which was published in February 2023. CLC’s role is to encourage decision-makers to speed up the green transition by attracting investments via predictable and ambitious policies and systemic market-driven solutions.

Our third strategic priority is to promote Nordic cooperation and establish ourselves in Sweden and Denmark. We took the first steps towards that goal in the autumn of 2022, but tangible results will not begin to materialise until later in 2023.

CLC organized Theme Group meetings for its members throughout 2022 and submitted a number of proposals relating to climate policy to the European Commission, national governments and other stakeholders.

I am proud of the impact that CLC is having on Finnish and European economic, industrial and climate policy. We have become a highly respected source of advice, and more and more people listen to our views and appreciate our work. We would not be where we are today without the determination and commitment of our members.

I am confident that our members will continue their fight against climate change and biodiversity loss in 2023 as well. Our role is to support them in their valuable work.

March 2023

Tuuli Kaskinen

MISSION

CLC’s mission is to boost the global competitiveness of businesses and research organizations as well as their ability to respond to the threats posed by climate change and the scarcity of natural resources and to take advantage of the associated business opportunities. CLC promotes international best practices and their adoption worldwide.

CLC’s core belief is that profitable, sustainable business is the most efficient way to respond to global environmental challenges.

CLC pursues its mission by

bringing together private and public organizations as well as individuals who share its objectives,
pooling and sharing information with its members about global environment-related trends and comparing best practices introduced in other countries,
initiating development projects that support its mission,
making proposals to ministries and government agencies on developing the innovation system and research programmes,
organizing seminars and events to raise awareness and to find new business opportunities,
acting as a collaborative platform for its members and representing its members in international cooperation organizations,
identifying know-how to use as a model for efficient mitigation of climate change and communicating this on international fora, and
taking other action as required to promote its cause.

MEMBERS, OPERATIONS AND FINANCING

At the end of 2022, CLC had 96 organizational members and 58 personal members. Seven new organizational members and four new personal members joined CLC during the year.

CLC’s CEO, staff and Board introduced CLC to several interested organizations in 2022. These presentations led to seven new organizational members joining CLC: Boston Consulting Company Nordics, Coolbrook, Miltton, Puro.earth, P2X Solutions, Sweco (which replaces Gaia Consulting) and the City of Vaasa.

New personal members who joined CLC in 2022 were Kati ter Horst, Kerttu Kotakorpi, Ash Pachauri and Matti Parpala.

CLC had two annual general meetings in 2022. The spring meeting was held on 1 April 2022 and the autumn meeting on 24 October 2022. In addition, an extraordinary general meeting was held on 21 November 2022.

One new member was appointed to the Board at the autumn meeting: Fiskars Group’s President and CEO Nathalie Ahlström. Stora Enso’s Executive Vice-President, Sustainability Annette Stube was appointed as a deputy member. The extraordinary meeting in November saw President and CEO of Marimekko Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko appointed as a member of the Board. The Board continues to be chaired by Karl-Henrik Sundström, with the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra’s President Jyrki Katainen acting as Vice-Chair.

CLC’s Advisory Board convened three times in 2022. The Advisory Board’s first meeting in February focused on the role of carbon sinks in the pursuit of carbon neutrality. The meeting included topical presentations by Professor Rob Jackson from Stanford University, representing the Global Carbon Project, MEP Ville Niinistö from the European Parliament and CLC’s advisor Louis Blumberg. The Advisory Board’s second meeting in May featured a presentation by WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, and the third meeting in October gave an opportunity for CEO Tuuli Kaskinen to present CLC’s new strategic priorities to the Advisory Board and for Development Director Juha Turkki to talk about CLC’s initiative to strengthen European carbon sinks. CLC’s former CEO Jouni Keronen became the second Chair of the Advisory Board in the spring, alongside Henrik Ehrnrooth.

CLC relocated to new offices at Hämeentie 31 in Helsinki at the end of 2022. CLC deployed Microsoft Sharepoint in November 2022 to enable professional and secure document sharing and digital working.

CLC’s operations were mostly financed through membership fees. Income from membership fees amounted to EUR 903,790.00 in 2022.

ACTION PLAN TARGETS AND PROGRESS

FLAGSHIPS

CLC had three flagships in 2022: (1) effective carbon pricing, (2) carbon handprint, and (3) a holistic strategy for the climate effects of EU land use.

EFFECTIVE CARBON PRICING

CLC has promoted the development of international carbon pricing systems through the Call on Carbon campaign and by lobbying for the expansion and strengthening of the EU Emission Trading System (‘EU ETS’). Our target has been to strengthen the wider deployment and predictability of the EU ETS so as to support and incentivise the realisation of large-scale low-carbon investments.

The Call on Carbon campaign is an initiative introduced by CLC in 2021, which is now supported by leaders of more than 150 businesses, cities, universities, interest groups and networks. The signatories to the campaign represent more than 60 million businesses and farmers in more than 100 countries. The businesses involved in the network have a total market capitalisation of more than USD 25 billion, and investment assets managed by representatives of the financial sector exceed USD 120 billion. Approximately 25 per cent of the world’s businesses are involved. The campaign is led by CLC in partnership with Haga Initiative and Skift Business Climate Leaders. Another key partner in the initiative is the International Chamber of Commerce.

The Call on Carbon campaign organized two events in connection with UN conferences in 2022. The first was a hybrid side event to the Stockholm+50 meeting in June, which provided an opportunity to discuss the campaign and carbon pricing mechanisms with the partners as well as representatives of the OECD, the IMF, WeMeanBusiness and the European Commission.

The second Call on Carbon event of the year was a high-level meeting at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (‘COP27’) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November. Among the attendees were ICC Secretary General John W H Denton AO, WTO Director General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, OECD Deputy Director David Bradbury, IMF Assistant Director James Roaf, Secretary of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action Pekka Moren and Marcelo Caffera from the Uruguayan Ministry of Economy and Finance. The debate was moderated by CLC’s CEO Tuuli Kaskinen. The debate established that

Carbon pricing mechanisms play a key role in incentivising climate-friendly investments.
Harmonisation is needed to align regional pricing mechanisms.
International organizations need to work together to provide mechanisms and guidance for harmonisation.
Awareness about the cost of carbon dioxide must be ramped up ahead of COP28.

Dialogue on carbon pricing mechanisms with the aforementioned organizations is set to continue in 2023.

CLC was also represented at an event hosted by Volvo Cars at COP27, which focused on carbon pricing mechanisms introduced by individual businesses.

CARBON HANDPRINT

CLC has been supporting VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University in their efforts to develop the concept of ‘carbon handprint’, which evaluates the positive environmental impacts of goods and services. The latest Carbon Handprint Guide, published in 2021, can be found here. CLC continues the debate on the need to develop the carbon handprint methodology and promotes the concept actively in its interactions with stakeholders in Finland and abroad.

A development project funded by Uusimaa Regional Council resulted in the publication of a Carbon Handprint Manual for Cities and Regions in January 2022, which can be found on CLC’s website. The manual is based on CLC’s study into how cities and regions can make themselves attractive to businesses that promote sustainable growth.

CLC also continued to pursue a collaboration with its Nordic partners, which focuses on the carbon handprint of Nordic businesses and is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. On the agenda in 2022 were a number of workshops with Nordic businesses to establish their level of knowledge and what their needs are in terms of the concept and positive climate effects. The project’s final report was published in February 2023.

In 2022 CLC also initiated a project funded by the Foundation of the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers, which is aimed at paving the way for the global deployment of the concept of carbon handprint. During the project, CLC organised the International Carbon Handprint Award in collaboration with Vancouver Economic Commission and investigated the compatibility of the carbon handprint methodology with international standards and EU law. The final report on the project is due to be published in the spring of 2023.

In addition to the product-specific handprint that CLC has developed with its partners, there have been calls for a national definition of the concept. CLC worked towards this in 2022 especially in the context of the preparations for the spring 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. CLC also participates in a group set up by the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, which is tasked with exploring the use of the carbon handprint concept to promote export trade.

International Carbon Handprint Award

CLC launched a carbon handprint competition for Finnish businesses in 2021 and handed out the awards on Zero Emissions Day. A carbon handprint project funded by the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers allowed CLC to make the competition global and host the first ever International Carbon Handprint Award competition in collaboration with Vancouver Economic Commission in 2022. The competition was launched at a side event to the GLOBE Forum in Vancouver, Canada on 31 March 2022.

The competition had an international panel of judges, which included Bryan Buggey, Co-chair and Director of Vancouver Economic Commission, Jouni Keronen, Co-chair of CLC’s Advisory Board, Richard W Corey, former Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board, Malte Lohan, Director General of Orgalim, Europe’s Technology Industries and Tiina Pajula, Principal Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Competition entries were submitted via a website.

The awards ceremony was arranged as a side event in connection to New York Climate Week on 21 September 2022. The winners were Schneider Electric, which received the Most Climate Positive Carbon Handprint Product Award for its Altivar variable speed drives, and SSAB, which earned the High Potential Carbon Handprint Innovation Award for HYBRIT, a revolutionary fossil-free steel-making technology that helps to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. The jury also granted three companies Honorary Certificates: Neste MY Renewable Diesel in the Most Climate Positive Carbon Handprint Product category as well as Schneider Electric for its RM AirSeT gas-insulated switchgear and Polar Night Energy for its thermal energy storage solution, both in the High Potential Carbon Handprint Innovation category.

CLIMATE EFFECTS OF LAND USE

CLC continued to work on policy proposals relating to the climate effects of EU land use, which it had started in 2021. CLC is currently in the process of drafting two separate position papers, one on the land use effects of forestry and the positive climate effects of forestry biomaterials and bioproducts, and one on increasing carbon sinks in agriculture. The policy proposals are motivated by concerns over the dramatic loss of European carbon sinks over the last ten years and, on the other hand, awareness of how long it takes to rehabilitate forest-based carbon sinks in particular. The proposals advocate for a holistic EU-wide long-term land use strategy to strengthen carbon sinks and reduce emissions from land use. The position papers are being finalised in the beginning of 2023.

CLC has also started work on a policy proposal concerning the possibilities of using green ammonia as fertilisers and marine fuels as well as in energy storage. Green ammonia is not only a low-carbon alternative but also has significant potential in ensuring self-sufficiency in the aforementioned areas.

OTHER ACTIONS

Zero Emissions Day

CLC hosted two Zero Emissions Day events in 2022 and invested heavily in promoting its members’ events.

CLC and Vancouver Economic Commission handed out the first International Carbon Handprint Awards to Schneider Electric and SSAB in connection with New York Climate Week.

A networking event was organized in the Lempäälä Ideapark shopping complex, where several local operators showcased their upcoming climate solutions and the importance of climate partnerships. The main goal of the event was to raise awareness about environmental issues and ways to reduce emissions among the public in general and local residents, decision-makers and parishioners in particular.

CLC’s members also ran their own events and campaigns on Zero Emissions Day, and Otaniemi Upper Secondary School in Espoo organized a Zero Emissions Day event for schools. The Golf Course Association Finland hosted a climate seminar that explored the role of golf clubs in climate change mitigation.

COP27

CLC is an observer organization of the United Nations and therefore given observer passes to UN Climate Change Conferences (‘Convention of the Parties’ or ‘COP’) each year. The 2022 Climate Change Conference (‘COP27’) was held in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, where CLC sent a delegation of eight representatives of its organizational members. The members represented during the first week of the meeting were Aalto University, Vestas andCoolbrook, and the members represented during the second week of the meeting were Wärtsilä, Huhtamäki, St1, Stora Enso and Puro.earth.

CLC’s priorities in discussions at COP27 were increasing climate investments, promoting carbon pricing and showcasing the carbon handprint concept. A debate at the sidelines of the negotiations, assembled by Call on Carbon, an initiative led by CLC, explored ways to harmonise regional emission trading systems with the WTO, the IMF and the OECD. It is possible that progress can be made in this regard even before the next COP.

One of CLC’s goals at COP27 was to raise awareness about the carbon handprint methodology. Carbon handprint – a concept developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, LUT University and CLC – measures the positive climate effects that can be achieved through the adoption of a new product or service compared to existing alternatives in the same category. The concept attracted a lot of interest among COP27 attendees. CLC – together with the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra – hosted one of the official side events to the Climate Change Conference to showcase the carbon handprint methodology. More information about the outcomes of COP27 from CLC’s perspective can be found on CLC’s website.

Other events

CLC hosted a formal dinner for the heads of fifteen of its organizational members in connection with Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans’s visit to Finland on 9 June 2022. The topics discussed at the dinner were the ‘Fit for 55’ package and the REPowerEU initiative to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

On 17 August 2022, CLC threw a retirement party for Jouni Keronen, which was attended by 110 representatives of CLC’s members and partners. The festivities coincided with CLC’s strategic planning seminar, which featured speeches by Secretary-General of the WMO Petteri Taalas and European Green Deal Advisor at the European Commission’s Directorate-General Climate Action Kurt Vandenberghe.

POSITION PAPERS

Organization leaders: ‘It is time to speed up climate action and rapidly reduce dependency on fossil fuels’, 7 March 2022. In addition to CLC, the open letter was signed by leaders of the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (Akava), the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), Finnish Development NGOs (Fingo), the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK).
Statement of the Climate Leadership Coalition Board on delaying climate policies and lowering fossil prices, 24 March 2022.
CLC Statement on the IPCC report and the urgency of climate action, 8 April 2022.
CLC: Finland needs a bolder hydrogen strategy, 18 May 2022.
CLC’s letter to EU leaders: Absolute cap on energy use threatens development of hydrogen economy, 22 June 2022.
CLC’s take on the resolutions of COP27: ‘A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit’, 20 November 2022. Four blog posts were also published on CLC’s intranet.
CLC Statement: A start should be made without delay on preparations for a Finnish industrial policy strategy for a hydrogen economy, 15 December 2022.

CLC made the following policy proposals to the EU in 2022:

Recommendation for EU on measures to decrease dependency on fossil energy, 12 May 2022

CLC submitted the following statements to the Finnish Government in 2022:

Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the Climate Change Bill (HE 27/2022 vp), 23 March 2022.
Statement to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment concerning the draft version of the national Climate and Energy Strategy VN/11385/2020, 18 May 2022.
Statement to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry concerning the draft version of the Climate Plan for the Land Use Sector (VN/4507/2021), 23 May 2022.
Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the Government’s communication to Parliament on the Commission’s proposal for recasting the Energy Efficiency Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (U 48/2021 vp), 15 June 2022.
Statement to the Commerce Committee on the basic memorandum (VM2022-00440) concerning the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241 as regards REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, Directive 2003/87/EC and Decision (EU) 2015/1814 – Presidency compromise text, 23 September 2022
Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the government report on the Climate Plan for the Land Use Sector VNS 7/2022, 19 October 2022.
Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the government report on Finland’s Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan VNS 4/2022 vp, 19 October 2022.
Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the government report on the national Climate and Energy Strategy, 19 October 2022.
Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the follow-up communication (U 26/2022 vp) on the Commission’s proposal for recasting the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council, 27 September 2022.
Statement to the Commerce Committee concerning the Finnish Climate Fund Bill (HE 116/2022 vp), 14 November 2022.
Statement on the Decree of the Ministry of the Environment on climate reports on buildings (VN/14758/2021), 14 November 2022.

The statements can be read on CLC’s website.

THEME GROUPS

CLC’s Theme Groups give members an opportunity to network and learn from each other, contribute to the preparation of CLC’s impact work and hear from visiting experts. CLC organized a total of 31 Theme Group meetings and webinars in 2022. The majority of the events were conducted in English, and guest speakers included experts from various businesses and research organizations as well as representatives of the authorities of other Nordic countries and the European Commission. CLC had a total of 13 Theme Groups in 2022, as well as a Strategy Leaders’ Group and a Climate Policy Group.

Theme Groups	Chair	Facilitator
Agriculture and Food	Matti Rihko (University of Turku)	Minttu Liuhto
Sustainable Diets	Nina Elomaa (S Group)	Minttu Liuhto
Carbon Footprint and Handprint	Tiina Pajula (VTT)	Sari Siitonen
Cities for Green Growth	Suvi Häkämies (Gaia)	Senni Raunio
Circular Economy		Kari Mokko
Health	Jaana Halonen (THL)	Minttu Liuhto
Communication		Kari Mokko
Construction	Otto Wille-Koste (Demos)	Senni Raunio
Energy	Pami Aalto (Tampere University)	Juha Turkki
Finance	Timo Tyrväinen (CLC)	Timo Tyrväinen
Forest	Petteri Pihlajamäki (Afry)	Minttu Liuhto
P2X	Antti Arasto (VTT)	Juha Turkki
Transport	Heikki Liimatainen (Tampere University)	Minttu Liuhto
Leadership Group
Strategy Leaders (with Combient Pure)	Marika Määttä (Combient Pure)	Tuuli Kaskinen
Policy Group
Climate Policy	Juha Turkki (CLC)	Juha Turkki

AGRICULTURE AND FOOD THEME GROUP

The objective of the Agriculture and Food Theme Group is to reduce emissions in the agricultural and food sector as well as to increase carbon sinks and promote new potential low-carbon food production methods and technologies.

On the agenda in 2022 were the sector’s emission reduction challenges and actions both in Finland across the EU. Other topics of conversation included the transformation potential of the agricultural sector and the role of businesses in the green transition. The Theme Group also convened due to the dramatic geopolitical developments of 2022 to discuss their impact on Finland’s agricultural sector and self-sufficiency, and the potential of green ammonia as a sustainable fertiliser and marine fuel. In addition, the Agriculture and Food Theme Group reviewed CLC’s position papers to the European Commission concerning agricultural land use and green ammonia.