UNEP Executive Director visits Helsinki to discuss ways to strengthen UN work on environment with Nordic countries

Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP Inger Andersen will visit Finland on 13–14 April. Andersen will meet representatives of Finland and other Nordic countries to discuss ways to strengthen the UN’s work on environmental matters. Andersen will also meet Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala and various stakeholders.

The core theme of the visit is how environmental matters can be integrated better into the operations of the UN as a whole and the capability of UNEP ensured in the tightening financial situation. The participants to the meeting between the Nordic countries and UNEP are Mika Nykänen, State Secretary to the Finnish Minister of Climate and the Environment, Daniel Westlén, State Secretary at the Swedish Ministry of Climate and Enterprise, Astrid Hoem, State Secretary to the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, and Jakob Nymann-Lindegren, Danish Ambassador to Finland from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

The topics to be discussed also include the key outcomes and follow-up steps of the seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in December 2025, cooperation between the Nordic countries and UNEP to strengthen international environmental diplomacy, and the impacts of the UN80 reform process on the future role of UNEP and the streamlining of environmental matters in the UN. In the technical discussions the focus was also on the role of science in political decision-making and means to fight against false and misleading information.

The follow-up steps of UNEA-7 were also the topic of the bilateral meeting between Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala and Executive Director Inger Andersen.

“Finland has stressed the important role of UNEP and environmental agreements and that of the United Nations Environment Assembly UNEA in UN cooperation on the environment. UNEA is the highest decision-making body of the UN in environmental matters, and in due course its decisions are also reflected at the national level. This is why it is highly important that UNEA’s decisions are strongly based on scientific knowledge and deal with matters that are critical in terms of the vitality of our planet,” Multala says.

The Nordic countries are major financers of the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP, and there is close dialogue between these countries and UNEP. The visit highlights the long-term partnership between Finland and UNEP and the growing role of the private sector in finding solutions to environmental themes. During her visit Andersen will also meet representatives of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, Finnish Environment Institute, Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament and Development Policy Committee.

Finland’s contribution to UNEP was EUR 1.5 million in 2025.

Inquiries

Marjaana Kokkonen
Senior Ministerial Adviser
Ministry of the Environment
tel. +358 295 250 025
[email protected]