The Ministry of the Environment organised an online survey to gather people’s views and opinions on how emissions can be reduced effectively and fairly. The number of responses that came in during the four weeks the survey was open was very high, more than 18,000. The responses will be used for the preparation of the Medium-Term Climate Change Policy Plan.

The UN Environment Assembly UNEA-5 brings together the UN Member States and representatives of the business sector and civil society organisations to a session conducted virtually on 22-23 February. The themes of the meeting are the role of nature in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals and green rebuilding and sustainable recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Climate Policy Roundtable met on 8 February to discuss low-carbon roadmaps for individual sectors. The meeting highlighted that there is a need to take a more comprehensive account of just transition and to update and coordinate the sectoral roadmaps.

The Climate Policy Roundtable will hold its sixth meeting on Monday 8 February. The main topic of the meeting are the low-carbon roadmaps for individual sectors. The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

The Ministry of the Environment invites views and opinions on how emissions can be reduced effectively and fairly through an online survey open to all. The survey is open from 19 January to 19 February. The responses will help to prepare a new medium-term climate change policy plan.

The working group that prepared the Architectural Policy Programme has considered how the Finnish architecture and built environment will be able to respond to the great societal challenges. Climate change, population ageing, urbanisation, new technologies and internationalisation are challenges, but they can also be seen as opportunities. The aims of the programme include more flexible use of buildings, creating criteria for the quality of housing construction, and making Finland increasingly attractive as a destination for architecture tourism.

For the first time, a comprehensive maritime spatial plan has been prepared for the Finnish marine area, compiled in an extensive cooperation process between various actors. The plan is a presentation with a map covering both territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone. It outlines, for example, significant and potential areas for underwater natural and cultural values, energy production, fishing, aquaculture, shipping and tourism. The aim is to reconcile the needs of different sectors and thus to improve the management of maritime industries and the state of the marine environment.

On 17 December, the EU environment and climate ministers will meet in Brussels to finalise the EU’s climate commitment to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Finland’s representative at the meeting will be Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Krista Mikkonen.

“The confirmation of the European Council to tighten the EU climate target came at an opportune moment - right on time to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Change Agreement tomorrow, and for the UN Climate Ambition Summit. Updated target shows to the world that we are consistently building a climate-neutral continent by 2050,” Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Krista Mikkonen says.

The Climate Ambition Summit, which seeks to ramp up ambition on climate change policy, will bring together the countries of the world on Saturday 12 December. The virtual summit marks the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement and aims to encourage countries to raise their climate targets and intensify their efforts leading up to the Glasgow COP 26 climate conference in November of next year. Prime Minister Sanna Marin will represent Finland at the summit.