The world’s strongest climate change act
We demand that Finland’s Climate Change Act (609/2015) should be renewed to match Finland’s ambition to be a global leader in the fight against climate change.
As a part of the European Union, Finland is a party of The Paris Agreement and therefore bound by the agreement to keep fighting to keep global temperature rise clearly under two degrees. Despite the lack of legally binding emission reduction targets in The Paris Agreement – the message is clear: ambitious climate action is needed. Now is the time to show this type of ambition in the national climate legislation in Finland!
In addition, Finland is committed to the achievement of sustainable development goals (Agenda 2030) both on a national level and internationally. It is only possible to reach the sustainable development goals if Finland works hard for carbon-neutrality and doing their part in the slowing down of global warming.
There are ambitious targets in the governement programme of Prime Minister Sanna Marin about the fair transition to carbon neutrality by 2035 and even transitioning to a carbon negative and fossil-free welfare society swiftly after that. In the government programme United Nations biodiversity convention targets are also met. The Climate Change Act need to be updated to enable these ambitious plans.
The UN Youth of Finland wants to renew the Climate Change Act to a more ambitious form and include more legally binding elements in the Act. The whole list of 10 suggestions to the Act is available in the Finnish version. Through this open letter we hope that Finland will show the way for the international community by taking a brave step towards carbon neutrality.
A clear goal of the renewed Climate Change Act is to make it open and participatory for citizens.
Based on the National Youth Barometer 67 percent of young people are quite or very worried about the climate change caused by humans. This worry is also a part of a global phenomena: young people want to take part in the fight against climate change and demand action.
With this background in mind, the UN Youth of Finland demands that the new Climate Change act include a Youth Climate Panel, which will be operating under the Ministry of Environment. A closer description of the panel is available in the Finnish version.
UN Youth of Finland condemns the decision of the US President Donald Trump to cut the US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and reminds that international cooperation plays a key role to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
UN Youth of Finland is concerned over the decision by President Trump to cut the US funding to the WHO today on 15th March 2020. Mr. Trump had threatened with the matter already earlier. The US is the single largest funder of the WHO with its annual share of more than USD 400 million. Withdrawing the US funding will affect the ability of the WHO to fight against the coronavirus. It takes away from the very resources, which are used to solve the corona crisis globally.
“The US decision to cut the funding can cost lives”, says Nicole Onnela, the chairperson of the UN Youth of Finland.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned swiftly the US decision: “Now is not the time to reduce the funding of the WHO”.
The Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto said today that Finland will increase its funding to the WHO back to the 2015 levels of 5,5 million euros due to the situation. UN Youth of Finland thanks the Finnish government for its timely and respectable decision.
“In the fight against coronavirus, we need global cooperation and solidarity – not confrontation. The coronavirus might close the borders but it should not be let to build a wall between discussions and joint efforts”, says the chairperson Onnela.
The UN Association of Finland has previously stated its support for the WHO funding and the statement can be read via this link (in Finnish).
UN Youth of Finland is particularly concerned over the effect that the lack of funding to the WHO will have on the youth.
Nicole Onnela
Chairperson of the UN Youth of Finland
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