25 January 2019: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland have signed a declaration committing to enhance their cooperation to accelerate climate action at the national, regional and global levels and to work towards carbon neutrality.

The Prime Ministers of Finland, Norway and Iceland, the Swedish Minister for the Environment and Climate and the Danish Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate signed the ‘Declaration on Nordic Carbon Neutrality’ during a summit in Helsinki, Finland, on 25 January 2019.

In the declaration, the five countries commit to step up ambition by 2020, enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and intensify their cooperation to, inter alia:

  • remove obstacles to low-emission development and promote transformations towards renewable energy;
  • promote carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reform;
  • incentivize climate action in the private sector;
  • decarbonize the transport sector;
  • enable green financing and deploy green procurement, green deals and impact investing;
  • promote joint Nordic business and research consortiums;
  • contribute to the further development and deployment of, inter alia, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) technologies;
  • maintain or enhance biological carbon sinks; and
  • measure carbon sinks with an internationally agreed methodology.

The countries also commit to encourage climate-conscious consumer choices through: developing information on reducing individual climate impacts; using existing consumer information schemes and initiatives on carbon and other environmental impacts on products and services; and ensuring that youth organizations have a role in awareness raising on climate-friendly consumer behavior.

In addition, the countries will cooperate to encourage Nordic companies, investors, local governments, cities, organizations and consumers to step up their efforts towards carbon neutrality.

The declaration invites the Nordic Council of Ministers to prepare a proposal on how to follow up on the declaration by 31 August 2019, to be considered by Nordic climate ministers at their meeting in October 2019. [Declaration on Nordic Carbon Neutrality] [Nordic Co-operation Press Release]