Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
Finance ministers join forces to mitigate climate change
Cooperation between Finance Ministers to mitigate climate change was officially launched under the lead of Finland, Chile and the World Bank, as Finance Ministers from 26 countries announced the establishment of a Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action on 13 April 2019.
The aim of this new form of cooperation is to harness the input of the Ministries of Finance and fiscal policy tools to combat climate change: taxation, budgeting, financing and public procurement.
The cooperation is built on a set of six common principles, known as the Helsinki Principles, that were conceived at a preparatory meeting held in Helsinki in February 2019. At the meeting of 13 April 2019, the Helsinki Principles were endorsed, in addition to the co-leaders of the Coalition Chile and Finland, by Austria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, France, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Kenya, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
Felipe Larraín Bascuñan, Minister of Finance of Chile, presented the Helsinki Principles at the meeting. In his speech, he emphasised the significance of concrete action. He stressed that it is not enough if the Ministers just convene around the same table to discuss climate change twice a year, but the cooperation must also lead to concrete results.
Minister Larraín requested the members of the Coalition to actively participate in the preparation of the Coalition's work plan, which will be started in Santiago, Chile at the turn of May and June. The Ministers will receive a report on the progress of the work at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in October 2019. Minister Larraín invited his colleagues to the COP25 Climate Change Conference that will be held in Santiago in December. The aim is to publish the work programme of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action in connection with the conference.
Finance Ministers Join Forces to Raise Climate Ambition (Press release by the World Bank on the launch of the Coalition, 13 April)
Helsinki Principles (Appendix to the press release of the World Bank)
Finance Ministers to combat climate change – cooperation launched in Washington (press release of 11 April, available only in Finnish and Swedish)
Finance Ministers show the way in efforts to combat climate change (Column by Minister Orpo of 20 February, available only in Finnish)
Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action (englanniksi)
Inquiries:
Eeli Jaakkola, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 2955 30160, eeli.jaakkola(at)vm.fi