The 5th September will remain as one of the brightest moments for the Finnish Big Ask campaign when Friends of the Earth Finland/Maan ystävät and other members of the Finnish Big Ask campaign coalition welcomed their MPs back to parliament by publishing the Campaign Climate Bill. After much challenging work, the Campaign Climate Bill was presented to the Minister of Environment, Ville Niinistö, in front of the House of Parliament, cheered on by the whole campaign coalition.
Experts in the Ministry of Environment afterwards commended the Big Ask campaign on the particularly high quality of the bill they produced. The Campaign Climate Bill contains the contents of a strong Climate Law and is the most important campaigning tool for the Finnish Big Ask.
The Climate Law is currently a priority theme in the Ministry of Environment and is working its way through the administration and political parties. Throughout the autumn, there have been good signs of the bill’s progression, with a seminar of stakeholders in early October showing several ministries in favour of the Climate Law. A ministerial working group on energy and climate policy is expected to meet in early 2013 to discuss the contents of the law.
Friends of the Earth Finland/Maan ystävät continues to campaign for the introduction of a strong climate law for Finland, intent on their country lowering its greenhouse gas emmissions and playing its part in mitigating the disastrous effects of climate change.
The European ‘Big Ask’ campaign is an initiative by Friends of the Earth groups in countries across Europe all with the same big ask – that their governments commit to reduce carbon emissions, year on year, every year. The campaign calls for cuts in emissions equal to a reduction of EU-wide domestic emissions of at least 40% compared to 1990 levels, without offsetting, by 2020.
