Finland, Belgium drive ambitious climate policy: PM

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä on Wednesday said that Belgium and Finland are both among the countries that drive an ambitious climate policy, and we both aim for net zero emissions by 2050.

Sipilä made the remark after a meeting with his visiting Belgian counterpart Charles Michel in Helsinki, said an official press release.

The key topics on the discussions were the next Multiannual Financial Framework of the EU, development of EU’s single market, Brexit and climate change.

“In the near future the EU will have to outline important climate policy strategies related to setting the objective to 2050, followed by updating the emission reduction objective to 2030. The EU must do its part to meet the objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Belgium and Finland are both among the countries that drive an ambitious climate policy, and we both aim for net zero emissions by 2050”, Sipilä said.

The visit of the Belgian Prime Minister was part of a series of meetings by Sipilä leading up to Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Sipilä has now discussed with 21 heads of EU Member States, and he aims to meet leaders of all EU countries before Finland’s Presidency, which will start in July.