Environmental group lawsuit accuses Finland govt of climate inaction

HELSINKI: A group of environmental and rights organisations said Thursday that they were suing the Finnish government for violating the country’s climate legislation by not taking adequate action to hit climate targets.

The six organisations noted in a statement that Finland in 2022 had adopted “one of the strongest net zero climate targets among industrialised nations, committing to become climate neutral by 2035 and reach net negative emissions thereafter.”

In their lawsuit filed to Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court, the groups argue that the “lack of adequate climate action” by Finland’s right-wing government is violating the country’s Climate Act.

“Our government is failing to enact solutions, cancelling agreed actions and refusing to revise Finland’s outdated climate plan for land use and forestry”, Greenpeace Senior Policy Advisor Kaisa Kosonen said.

“This constitutes a violation of the Climate Act, so it’s our duty as NGOs to take legal action”, she said.

According to the organisations, Finland is not on track to meet its emission reduction targets, primarily as a result of excessive logging and a lack of efforts to curb emissions from the agricultural and transport sectors.

The groups said the case builds on an earlier ruling by a Finnish court and a recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) which found that Switzerland violated the human rights of a group of elderly women by not doing enough to combat global warming.

“Governments’ inaction on climate change endangers the realisation of many human rights, such as the rights to life and health and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment”, Elina Mikola, climate and environment advisor at Amnesty Finland, said.

The lawsuit was filed August 2 by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Greenpeace Norden, Amnesty International Finland, Grandparents for Climate, the Finnish Nature League and the Finnish Sami Youth.

Finland’s first climate trial ended last year with the Supreme Administrative Court eventually dismissing a complaint against the Finnish state over insufficient climate action.