GTFS: Global Trends and Future Scenarios Index

Government Foresight Report on Long-term Climate and Energy Policy: Towards a Low-carbon Finland

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Abstract

The foresight report of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s second Cabinet reviews the long-term challenges of climate change and energy policy from global and national perspectives. In the report, the Government outlines targets and measures marking out the road to a thriving long-carbon Finland.

The time horizon of the report extends until mid-century and beyond as necessary, covering measures both to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impacts. Besides energy production, the report discusses energy, consumption, transport, the forests and other themes central to climate protection.

In the report, the Government sets its target to actively contribute towards limiting the rise in the global average temperature to two degree Celsius at most. For this target to be achieves, all key countries will need to be committed to strict emission limits. As part of international cooperation, Finland is committed to reducing its emissions to a sustainable level – by at least 80 per cent from the 1990 level by 2050. To support the above objective, a shift to a virtually zero-emission energy system and passenger road traffic will take place in the long term.

Building a low-carbon society calls for strong and urgent measures at all levels and sectors. Municipalities, enterprises, organizations and private individuals alike are needed in the joint effort to combat climate change. The climate perspective needs to be mainstreamed throughout all decision-making, and current policies and measures need to be strengthened while also adopting new ones.

The preparation of the report included commissioning a number of studies on climate and energy policy issues as background material. Stakeholder panels and online discussions provided feedback for the preparation. The background scenarios included in the report are also based on a participatory approach.

Keywords: climate and energy policy, future, the long term, predicting, climate protection, low-carbon society