Shared future visions and strategic thinking should be at the core of the government negotiations

Good Morning,

After the NCP's victory in the Finnish Parliamentary elections, the difficult task of government formation begins this week. In addition to parties' glaring political disagreements, various global crises promise particularly challenging government negotiations.

The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra has made four strategic sustainability suggestions to the future government – whoever will be forming it. The strategic outline aims to help Finland make responsible policy that builds a just, sustainable, and encouraging future.

Distribution of seats in the 2023 Finnish Parliamentary Elections

Sitra suggests that the future government should

1. Create and maintain an economic system that strengthens the state of the environment. The well-being of humans depends on the state of nature and climate. Solving biodiversity loss, climate crisis, and overconsumption of natural resources should be strategic priorities in economic policy decision-making.

2. Utilize data to reform and modernize the Finnish economy. Efficient use of data and fair rules will help Finland to sharpen its competitive edge and advance its work to resolve sustainability-related issues. One suggestion is to amend legislation, guidance and and control practices for the use of AI in the public sector.

3. Cherish and develop further the democratic system. For instance, Sitra suggests opening the legislation processes and improving citizen-friendliness when communicating about the parliament's work.

4. Invest in education and knowledge – as they are central factors for Finland's sustainable prosperity in the future. People should have a holistic conception of their knowledge and skillsets and how to utilize them best. Thus investing in life-long learning should be emphasized in the government program.

Above all, Sitra's recommendations highlight the importance of strategic thinking and shared future visions in the government program. The upcoming government must consciously prepare for different future trajectories. Unpreparedness and crisis-solving will be much more complex and expensive afterward, as unexpected global crises in the past few years have shown.

Sources: Sitra, HS

Let's jump into this week's major headlines.

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

Kauppalehti | Bitcoin mining consumes startling amounts of energy in the US after China's mining ban. According to The New York Times calculation, the energy consumption of US bitcoin mining is equivalent to the energy consumption of a New York-sized metropolis.

WMO | Climate report: Last March as second warmest on record. The world had the second joint warmest March on record and Antarctic sea ice was the second lowest on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission. The monthly climate bulletins report on the changes observed in global surface air temperature, sea ice cover and hydrological variables.

HS | Report: Carbon neutrality by 2050 will cost the European aviation industry more than €800 billion. Switching to cleaner fuels creates most of the expenses in reaching the target.

Euronews | The German government is phasing out nuclear power despite Europe's energy crisis. The country is pulling the plug on its last three reactors on Saturday (15 April), betting it will succeed in its green transition without nuclear power.

Aljazeera | Lula government struggles to rein in deforestation in Brazil. Preliminary data finds deforestation in March increased 14 percent over the same month last year, despite the left-wing president's efforts to halt deforestation that surged under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

Reuters | UN chief: "Somalis suffering from climate crisis they did nothing to create." After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, the drought has displaced 1.4 million Somalis, with women and children making up 80% of them. Now, famine threatens to follow the drought that killed 43,000 people last year only.

Reuters | China's coastal sea levels hit their highest on record in 2022. The country's coastal levels have increased by an average of 3.5 millimetres per year since they were first measured in 1980.

Aljazeera | India’s tiger population tops 3,000, survey finds. Efforts to revive India’s tiger population began 50 years ago over fears the big cats were going extinct due to poaching and habitat loss. From 2006 to 2018, the tiger numbers almost doubled to 2,967 and are now well above 3,000. India is home to 70 percent of the world’s tigers.

HS | Extensive logging measures are now taking place in Northern Finland. Forestry companies are rushing to Northern Finland, where it is still possible to fell increasing logging quantities. New forestry plants demand increasing amounts of wood, but potential new conservation measures may reduce the land available for forestry. The central question is whether the wood will run out in the future.

Dagens Nyheter | Sweden to abolish tax on plastic bags. The government and the Sweden Democrats have agreed on the decision in the spring budget negotiations. The purpose of the bag tax was to make consumers think about whether they need a bag, but now it is argued that the focus should be earlier in the chain instead, with requirements on production, consumption, and collection.

Dagens nyheter | The owner of the Swedish nuclear power plant company Blykalla runs a climate denier group. Blykalla has received multimillion-dollar support from the Swedish Energy Agency for a test facility in Oskarshamn. However, DN revealed that one of the company's owners is part of a climate denial organization. This revelation puts pressure on him to resign from the board.

Yle | Deposit refund system for cans could speed up metal recycling, -Syke researcher. Approximately 50 % of domestic waste is sorted; the EU aims for a 65 % recycling rate by 2035.

Energiauutiset | Forestry Ltd makes an initiative on offshore wind energy planning. Forestry Ltd (Metsähallitus) plans is to locate five wind turbines in Ostrobothnia, with a generation capacity of over 6 gigawatts (GW).

HS | Diesel oil spill at Metsä Fibre plant in Äänekoski. An estimated 5000 liters of diesel fuel has leaked around the plant, but large quantities of oil have not reached the water system.

STT | Maria Ohisalo will not seek re-election as Green Party leader. Ohisalo has served two two-year terms as chair of the Green Party, as Finland's Minister of the Interior in 2019-2021, and as Minister of the Environment and Climate since the summer of 2022.

Reuters | US becomes first major fishing nation to ratify subsidies deal -WTO chief. A total of 164 members in the World Trade Organization reached an agreement to cut subsidies contributing to overfishing. The deal aims to cut billions of dollars in harmful subsidies that are emptying the ocean of marine life, although it needs two-thirds of the members to sign on to take effect. In addition to the US, only a handful of smaller countries have accepted it thus far.

The Guardian | Hyundai urged to stop illegal miners from using its machines in Amazon. According to a Greenpeace report, the South Korean company's heavy machinery products are used in illegal mining and environmental destruction in the Brazilian Amazon.

Reuters | U.S. proposes 56% vehicle emissions cut by 2032, requiring big EV jump. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032, a move the agency says could mean two out of every three new vehicles automakers sell will be electric within a decade. The proposal represents the most aggressive U.S. vehicle emissions reduction plan to date, requiring 13% annual average pollution cuts.

STT | Green Transition – The Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland pledges to process faster permit applications related to environmental and water management. Already four initiatives that further the green transition have been prioritized this year.

STT | Ramboll Finland won the international Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact Award. In the first Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact Award competition, six international winners were selected from 241 participants. Ramboll Finland received the award in the "Impact to My Customers" category for the work it has done to help its customers achieve their low-carbon goals.

Ice sheets can collapse faster than previously thought possible. Ice sheets can retreat up to 600 meters a day during periods of climate warming, 20 times faster than the highest rate of retreat previously measured. An international team of researchers used high-resolution imagery of the seafloor to reveal just how quickly a former ice sheet that extended from Norway retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago. (Nature, Science Daily)

World’s ocean surface temperature hits record high. Climate scientists said preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) showed the average temperature at the ocean’s surface has been at 21.1°C since the start of April – beating the previous high of 21°C set in 2016. “The current trajectory looks like it’s headed off the charts, smashing previous records,” said Prof Matthew England, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales. More than 90% of the extra heat caused by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and deforestation has been taken up by the ocean. Heat accumulation in the ocean also provides fuel for extreme weather. (Noaa, The Guardian)

Picture of the week