Environment

Being one of the centers of global environmental cooperation, Geneva is home to over a hundred environmental organizations and agencies. The Permanent Mission takes part in this cooperation by attending various meetings and multilateral negotiations. The Mission is also engaged in close cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment which bears the main responsibility for international cooperation in this sector.

The International Environment House IEH is the center for multilateral environmental cooperation in Geneva. It has gathered in its premises a range of UN agencies and other organisations focusing on environmental protection and sustainable development. The largest of them is the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP which was founded in 1972. The Geneva office serves as UNEP´s Regional Office for Europe while the headquarters is situated in Nairobi. UNEP works in Geneva on issues such as relations between multilateral trade and environment, the environmental impact of natural catastrophes and conflicts, protection of seas, as well as biosafety. Finland also contributes to the international conventions on chemicals and waste management whose secretariats are located under the auspices of UNEP as well as to various environmental projects such as the project on women, peacebuilding and natural resources, which is coordinated from Geneva by UNEP's Environmental Cooperation for Peacebuilding programme.

Environmental cooperation is also part of the work of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, UNECE. Located in the Palais des Nations, the UNECE´s Committee on Environmental Policy aims at promoting environmental protection in all its Member States. In addition, the Committee coordinates the Environment for Europe ministerial process which links environmental issues with broader themes.  UNECE administrates five state conventions on environmental protection. Finland is a party of all of the five environmental state conventions of the UNECE and participates actively in the work of the Committee on Environmental Policy. The objectives of environmental protection and sustainable development are included in the work of all UNECE subcommittees.

The most critical environmental challenge, climate change, forms an important part of the work of the World Meteorological Organization WMO. Founded in 1950, WMO coordinates international cooperation on climate, hydrology and water resources and related environmental issues. The main responsibility of the organization is to ensure that its members have the best available technical and material resources to operate their activities of official weather services and related warning systems. Therefore, WMO has a critical role in promoting the safety and well-being of the societies. The supreme body of the Organization, the World Meteorological Congress, elected in 2015 the former Director General of the Finnish MeteorologicaI Institute, Professor Petteri Taalas, as the Secretary General of WMO for the term 2016–2019. WMO also serves as the Secretariat for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC. In 2007, the IPCC and former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.