To define its involvement in policies and programmes intended to address climate change and the loss of biodiversity, the Finnish Ministry of Finance has released its own climate and natural strategy.
“Climate change and biodiversity loss are among the most significant challenges faced by humankind. Without addressing these challenges, the well-being of future generations is threatened,” according to a document containing the strategy.
The Ministry of Finance divided the risks associated with the crises into two categories: physical risks and risks linked to transitions.
Examples of the former category include floods, droughts, storms, and the probable erosion of agricultural land. The steps taken to change economic and production systems, including the consequences on the prices of high-emission products that their manufacturers could not foresee when making the investment decision, are what lead to transition-related hazards.
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“Although it is difficult to predict the effects, their severity will probably increase as climate change and biodiversity loss progress,” the document added.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Finland should be especially worried about how biodiversity loss and indirect consequences of climate change could impair the country’s food supply, supply chains, and response to climate refugees.
The strategy also considers equity, long-term costs, and intergenerational conundrums related to environmental issues. It emphasizes that action must be taken right away even though the consequences won’t be realized for a few generations and even though the costs are unlikely to be shared equally by all members of society.
The Director General of the Ministry of Finance, Mikko Spolander, argued in a column that the ministry needed its own climate and environment strategy to establish a framework for the work done by experts at different departments in the context of drafting legislation, selecting financial steering mechanisms, and evaluating policy impacts.
According to him, the strategy enables the ministry to explain both internally and externally what its duties are and the guiding concepts that inform how it contributes to environmental and climate policies.
He emphasized that to curb climate change, biodiversity loss, and overconsumption, the ministry must discover and offer solutions from its own perspective and utilise the tools at its disposal, such as economic and administrative tools.
Story was adapted from Helsinki Times.
