Has Finland Chosen The Most Ambitious Climate Target In Law?

Before we begin to delve into the finer details of what the Nordic wonderland Finland has set out to achieve where it comes to its climate change goals, here’s a bit of perspective as to what some of the leading nations in the world have set out to achieve.

Beginning with Germany, the world-famous Olaf Scholz-led nation has set out to achieve a target of becoming the Greenhouse gas neutral by 2045. By the year 2030, the country aims at cutting down emissions by 65 percent. Meanwhile, one of Germany’s closest allies and one of Finland’s close economic associates, France aims to simply eliminate all of its Greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

That being said, countries like India too are walking the ambitious road towards cutting down the Greenhouse gas emissions; the first of the several climate target goals of the country being to achieve the net-zero emissions by the year 2070, which is several more years for the taking when compared to some of the European nations.

But truth be known, news from Finland suggests that the country is in a league of its own where it comes to achieving the climate targets.

So the key question here is, just what is so astronomically surprising about the Finland approach to achieving some of its climate targets that where it stands at the moment, the one country that is making news in much of Europe is no one else but the famous Sanna-Marin led nation?

For starters, one needs to note that Finland has set itself a rather ambitious target, which could also be why the country is trending, where it comes to becoming completely carbon neutral.

And just how is that?

Finland, as a matter of fact, is targeting to become completely carbon neutral by the year 2035, which is ten more years ahead of the same ambition that Germany wishes to achieve and fifteen more years prior to when France hopes to achieve the very same target.

But having said that, let’s dive into some catchy insights that emerged from an update published on the Climate Change News that happens to arrest the subject in greater detail:

According to Net Zero Tracker, only South Sudan has a more ambitious net zero date than 2035 and, as a developing country, its 2030 target is highly dependent on international finance.

The target was set based on analysis by a group of independent economists from the Finnish climate change panel. They worked out what Finland’s fair share was of the 420 GT of carbon dioxide that the world can emit and still have a two-thirds chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C.

The panel based this fair share on Finland’s share of the global population, its ability to pay to reduce emissions and its historic responsiblity for causing climate change. It is believed to be the first target to have been set in this way.

Finland’s environment minister Emma Kari told Climate Home it was “very important” that the target was set with researchers and people from the climate science community. She added: “High income countries have to take a progressive and active role when it comes to tackling climate change.”