Coal-free Finland
Greenpeace Nordic, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (Naturskyddsföreningen) and Action Aid Denmark (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke) have filed a shareholder resolution at Nordea’s Annual General Meeting. The resolution is also supported by Fair Finance Guide and Hiilivapaa Suomi.
Lue lisää “NGO-led shareholder resolution demands Nordea to stop financing fossil fuel expansion”
Steel is an emission intensive commodity widely used in society and responsible for 7-9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonisation of the steel industry is crucial to the overall green transition. As global steel demand is projected to increase by 40% by 2050, the need for a rapid decarbonisation of the industry is pressing.
The decarbonisation of the steel industry poses both risks and opportunities for investors. There is overhanging regulatory risk and at the same time a strong need for financing of emerging technologies. Lue lisää “Investor roundtable on steel decarbonisation”
A global group of 67 organisations led by BankTrack and Reclaim Finance is calling on 50 of the world’s largest banks to end all financial support for new metallurgical coal production and expansion. Banks risk stranded assets and climate catastrophe in steel lending without metallurgical coal exclusions.
Coal-Free Finland / Friends of the Earth Finland has signed the letter.
→ Read the press release and the letter
This article originally published on SteelWatch Insights
Friends of the Earth Finland recently analysed whether companies that buy steel are using their power to encourage decarbonisation of this high-emissions product. Their new Scoreboard shows the companies are doing very little.
For most companies, decarbonising the supply chain (upstream Scope 3) has become the priority area of action, dwarfing their own direct emissions. Steel is an input supplied to a myriad of companies, and is a carbon-intensive product (almost 2 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel). So by now we might expect steel buyers to be driving decarbonisation in the steel supply chain. Lue lisää “It’s time companies use their purchasing power to decarbonise the polluting steel industry”
Press release
Civil society organizations criticize GSCC certification for ignoring social and environmental impacts of steelmaking and lacking meaningful measures to reduce emissions
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today civil society organizations published an open letter calling on policymakers, steelmakers, and buyers to disregard a recent “standard” released by the Global Steel Climate Council. The organizations argue that this standard, which was created to influence trade agreements, including a pending deal between the United States and European Union, favors the existing practices of a small fraction of steelmakers in wealthy nations rather than creates mechanisms to meaningfully decarbonize global steelmaking, and should be ignored in any government standards or trade agreements. Lue lisää “New industry-led “standard” for low-emissions steel slammed as EU-US trade deal looms”
Since the adoption of the Paris climate agreement, Nordea has poured 12.4 billion euros into fossil fuel companies – such as the fossil company Fortum, one of Europe’s biggest emitters.
Nordea has committed to net-zero in 2050. However, distant promises are not enough and we are demanding meaningful action now. Nordea’s new climate policy is not aligned with the Paris Agreement.
We demand that Nordea:
Join Stop funding fossil fuels, Nordea! demonstration at the company’s headquarters (Satamaradankatu 5, 00580 Helsinki) on the 29th October at 8.30-9.30 am. The demonstration is part of the international #DefundClimateChaos action day.
Before the demonstration, there will be an online briefing on Nordea’s role in the climate crisis on 26 October at 5-6 pm. You can participate even if you can’t make it to the demonstration but are interested in learning more.
The conveners of the demonstration are Hiilivapaa Suomi, Fridays For Future Finland, 350 Suomi, Friends of the Earth Finland and XR Finland.
Canadian company threatens to take legal action against Campaigners Reaction on letter to Trudeau and other politicians on LNG subsidies Energy utilities Fortum and Uniper involved in Pieridae‘s LNG business Lue lisää “Joint Press Release: Fortum/Uniper’s partner Pieridae attempts to silence activists”
Finnish majority state-owned energy company Fortum/Uniper has confirmed in its new strategy released today that it does not intend to align its business with the goals of the UN Paris climate agreement, opting instead to track inadequate national government coal phase-out plans, in defiance of the requirements of its majority shareholder.
Lue lisää “Fortum/Uniper leave Finnish government red-faced due to Paris-incompatible strategy”
Fortum failed yet again to address the concerns of civil society and environmental organisations in this year’s AGM. The Finnish state-owned company did not properly comment on its subsidiary Uniper’s new coal plant, its emissions in Russia or other fossil fuel investments, which will lock Fortum and Uniper into polluting energy production for a decades.
Lue lisää “Fortum defends coal power at their AGM by emphasising emissions trading”
While Finland is gearing up to the national elections (taking place 14.4.) that are finally dominated by climate change, it is important to ensure we do not ignore the developments in the Finnish corporate world right under our noses. The slowly unveiling corporate takeover on Uniper by the Finnish majority state-owned company Fortum is important to follow vigilantly. And, in particular, how Fortum intends to tackle the elephant in the room: Uniper’s enormous emissions. Lue lisää “Fortum’s Annual General Meeting did not signal willingness to close Uniper’s coal plants”