The Greens, the Social Democrats and the Left Alliance will submit a request to Parliament for an interpellation debate on the government's nature and climate policies. The parties believe that the government has been unable to present credible ways to achieve Finland's climate and nature goals.
"Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government will go down in history as the first government to deliberately increase emissions," the group of opposition parties said in a press release on Friday.
"The government's actions on transport add more than a million tonnes of emissions a year, and they are not proposing any measures to account for them. The government claims that it is reducing emissions effectively, but this is not true," said Atte Harjanne, chair of the Green's parliamentary group.
According to the group, the government's delay in taking action against the loss of nature and the climate crisis will be costly and directly affect Finnish businesses, workers and people's well-being.
"Under the Prime Minister, Finland has become a handbrake on climate and nature action both at home and in Europe. The green transition has huge potential, but to exploit it requires will, which this government lacks," said MP Pinja Perholehto (SDP).
"During the last government term, an important objective was to support ordinary Finns and households to switch to more climate-friendly energy sources. Now Orpo's right-wing government is completely failing households with climate action," said Li Andersson, chair of the Left Alliance.
No change in government position
Orpo is also getting flak from the group of parties for opposing the EU's Nature Restoration Law.
The Nature Restoration Law aims to restore degraded ecosystems across all Member States, in order to achieve the EU’s climate and biodiversity objectives. EU countries will be required to restore at least 20 percent of habitats covered by the new law from poor to good condition by 2030.
The European Parliament was set to approve the Nature Restoration Law, with 329 votes in favour, 275 against, and 24 abstentions. However, the law has been in a stalemate since March when it lost the necessary majority from Member States, following a last-minute U-turn by Hungary.
Finland voted against the law.
A letter signed by 11 EU countries has been sent to opponents of the law, including Finland, asking them to reconsider their positions. Staff from the Ministry of the Environment told Yle recently, "Finland's position on the issue has not changed."
"The government seems to be active in the EU only as a mole. At a time when 70 percent of Finns say they support the EU's Nature Restoration Law, the government chooses to scrap it, and the environment minister describes the restoration measures as "radical", Perholehto continued.
"It shows an incredible lack of judgement to waste Finland's small EU credentials on environmental issues by hesitating," said Andersson.
Currently the government has committed to a carbon neutral Finland by 2035. According to the group of opposition parties, this commitment will not be met.
They demand that the Orpo-led government take seriously the improvement of forest biodiversity and the strengthening of carbon sinks.
An interpellation question usually leads to a debate among MPs and a vote of confidence in the government.
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