News

The Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland METSO (2008–2025) has had a positive impact on forest biodiversity. This is the conclusion of the independent final evaluation of the programme. A working group of the Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is preparing the next period of the programme that will start in 2026.

The Ministry of the Environment requests comments on the draft decree of the Ministry of the Environment that would lay down provision on the monetary values of animals and plants protected under the Nature Conservation Act. The updates would lead to significant changes in the value of certain animal species. The value of freshwater pearl mussel, for example, would increase 2.5-fold. This would be the first time that values would be set for plant species as well. The deadline for comments is 28 February 2025.

Finland is preparing a country pavilion for the next UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs support the preparation of the pavilion in cooperation with companies, municipalities, universities and non-governmental organisations.

The EU environment ministers aim for a general approach to reduce microplastic pollution by curbing plastic pellet losses. The ministers will also discuss the Regulation on end-of-life vehicles and the EU’s 2040 climate target. Finland’s representative at the meeting is State Secretary Mika Nykänen.

The UN Climate Change Conference COP29 reached an agreement on the new climate finance goal (New Collective Quantified Goal, NCQG) of USD 300 billion and a total NCQG of USD 1,300 billion. Decisions on the global monitoring framework for the process to phase out fossil fuels were left to the future climate conferences.

Pressures to reach an understanding will be mounting when the representatives of the UN Member States convene in Busan, Republic of Korea, on 25 November–1 December for the last scheduled negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty. Finland’s Chief Negotiator Tuulia Toikka from the Ministry of the Environment expects that the negotiations will be challenging.

The world states will convene at the Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan on 11–22 November. The aim is to decide on a new common climate finance target. A faster energy transition will be needed as the countries are preparing to set new emission reduction targets during next year.

UN Biodiversity Conference COP16 ended with a skinny agreement on Saturday morning after having gone into overtime. A benefit-sharing mechanism for digital information on genetic resources (the Cali Fund) was established and the role of indigenous peoples was strengthened, but no understanding was reached on monitoring the implementation of biodiversity targets or mobilising finances. As the meeting dragged on and some of the negotiators had to go home, there was no quorum to make decisions.

Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen stresses that, to reach the global targets, China must be more strongly involved in the environmental and climate work.

On 29 October, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Kai Mykkänen signed two Memorandums of Understanding promoting Finland–China cooperation on the environment and the circular economy.