Finland Legally Commits To Carbon Negativity By 2040

Carbon dioxide removal will soon be written into Finnish law: In a historic Wednesday vote, the country's Parliament approved a new Climate Change Act that would commit the country to carbon neutrality by 2035, and carbon negativity 2040. From a report: Assuming it is signed by President Sauli Niinisto, the law would make Finland the first country in the world to make its carbon commitments legally binding. University of Eastern Finland international law professor Kati Kulovesi called the new targets "remarkable," particularly the carbon negativity commitment. The targets are based on a scientific analysis of the country's nationally determined contributions, which Kulovesi also commended. "However, other details of the act could have been stronger," Kulovesi told Protocol. "There is an important gap between current measures and those required to reach the targets, and now there is a legal obligation to act." The new law also updates absolute emissions reduction targets, requiring at least a 60% reduction by 2030 and 80% by 2040, as compared with 1990 levels. Finland had previously committed to an 80% reduction by 2050, so this change catapults the country's progress forward by a full decade. Combining those reductions with the new legally mandated carbon negative goals in less than 20 years will require the country to rely on carbon dioxide removal in addition to simply lowering its overall emissions.

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