Climate
Human action warms up the climate, with severe consequences. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees requires strong and fast emission reductions. Climate warming will continue despite the efforts to mitigate it, which means that adaptation will also be needed.
The Ministry of the Environment coordinates the climate negotiations under the UN Convention on Climate Change and negotiations within the European Union on climate matters. In the national climate policy the ministry is responsible for the overall coordination and part of the legislative and policy preparation and reporting.
The ministry’s mandate includes land use and regional planning policy, building and construction, waste policy and promoting a circular economy, which are all closely linked to emission reductions and climate change adaptation. In addition, our mandate includes biodiversity. Loss of biodiversity is also interconnected with the progress of climate change.

The reform of the Climate Change Act
Finland aims to be carbon neutral by 2035. The Climate Change Act is being reformed and strengthened to achieve this target.

Municipal climate change solutions
Local authorities have a key role in implementing international and national climate agreements. Nationally-agreed emission reduction targets are translated into action at the local level.

Government’s climate policy
According to Sanna Marin’s Government Programme in 2019 Finland will be carbon-neutral by 2035, and the world’s first fossil-free welfare society.

EU climate policy
The climate policy of the European Union guides the actions to mitigate climate change and adapt to it, both within the EU as a whole and in individual Member States.

Paris Climate Change Agreement
The objective of the Paris Agreement is to keep the increase in the global average temperature well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.

Medium-term climate change policy plan
The medium-term climate change policy plan is drawn up for each electoral term, and it includes an action programme to reduce emissions in the non-emissions trading sectors, i.e. the effort-sharing sector.

Circular Economy
Finland is preparing a strategic programme to promote a circular economy. The aim is to transform the economy into one that is based on the principles of circular economy by 2035.