Finnish top court rejects complaint on govt climate inaction
A group of six environmental and rights organisations filed the lawsuit in August, arguing the government had violated the country's climate legislation.
They said the Finnish government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo had failed to take sufficient action to meeting its legally binding climate targets. Those targets include reaching climate neutrality by 2035 and having net-negative emissions.
They argued that Finland was not on track to meet its emission reduction targets, mainly because of excessive logging and a lack of efforts to curb emissions from the agricultural and transport sectors.
They also said the government had failed adopt measures to increase the country's carbon sink -- meaning things that absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release.
The lawsuit was filed by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Greenpeace Norden, Amnesty International Finland, Grandparents for Climate, the Finnish Nature League and the Finnish Sami Youth.
However, in its ruling published on Wednesday, the Supreme Administrative Court said the case had been dismissed.
The court noted that the government had identified a need for further measures to increase the carbon sink and it was too early to conclude whether measures were sufficient or not because they had not yet taken effect.
The case marks the second time environmental organisations have tried to take the government to court over climate inaction.
In the previous case, concluded in 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court decided not to review the complaint due Finland's climate law only having been in force for a short while.
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