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Minister Mykkänen: Environmental and climate themes high on agenda during visit to China

Ministry of Economic Affairs and EmploymentMinistry of the Environment
Publication date 1.11.2024 11.25 | Published in English on 1.11.2024 at 13.21
Press release

Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen stresses that, to reach the global targets, China must be more strongly involved in the environmental and climate work.

Minister Mykkänen participated in President of the Republic Alexander Stubb’s state visit to China on 28–30 October. Climate, environmental and energy issues were among the main themes of the visit. Minister Mykkänen participated in high-level meetings as part of President Stubb’s delegation and gave a speech that encouraged China to adopt a high level of ambition in climate actions at the meeting hosted by the Chinese Premier. 

“It is important that China will make as fast progress as possible in its environmental actions. The rapid technological advancement could show to China that it can also reach the environmental and climate targets faster than it believes at present,” Mykkänen says.

During the visit, Minister Mykkänen signed two Memorandums of Understanding promoting Finland–China cooperation on the environment and the circular economy. In view of the major environmental conferences towards the end of this year, one of the key objectives of the visit was to boost China in its environmental and climate actions The UN Biodiversity Conference in Colombia (COP16) ended on 1 November and the UN Climate Change Conference will begin in Baku, Azerbaijan on 11 November. The negotiations on the UN plastics treaty are to be completed in Busan, the Republic of Korea, at the end of the year. 

Mykkänen reminds that, while China is the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, it has also installed more renewable energy capacity than any other country.

“In the global environmental negotiations, it is highly important whether China will set a genuine and ambitious emission reduction target for the next ten years. One of our key messages is to highlight Finland’s and the EU targets for the Climate Change Conference in Baku. We also emphasised that it would be appropriate for China to set an interim emission reduction target for 2035,” Mykkänen says.

President Stubb’s delegation included a number of Finnish companies as well. The aim of the Government Programme is to increase Finland’s positive carbon handprint by replacing polluting solutions in different parts of the world with clean technology exports. The topics discussed during the visit included cleaner solutions for the energy sector and energy efficiency of buildings.

“Many Finnish companies have solutions to offer. Individual actions will not change the climate, but climate benefits will be multiplied when the solutions are used in big cities with large numbers of residents. We are among the leaders in the use of heat pumps, solutions for the storage of heat, quick-response reserve capacity and smart demand response,” Mykkänen says.

Besides the meeting with Premier Li Qiang, Minister Mykkänen participated in President Stubb’s meetings with President of China Xi Jinping and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji. During the visit, Minister Mykkänen also met with Deputy Minister of Ecology and the Environment of China Zhao Yingmin, Deputy Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Jiang Wanrong, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhao Chenxin and Deputy Director of the National Energy Administration Ren Jingdong

Inquiries:

Leevi Hietanen
Parliamentary Assistant to Minister Mykkänen
tel. +358 50 475 1032 
[email protected]

Mikko Puustinen
Ministerial Adviser 
tel. +358 295 047 144
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

Annika Lindblom
Head of Unit for International and EU Affairs
tel. +358 295 250 163
Ministry of the Environment