Foreign Minister Stubb: Green technology a great opportunity for Finland
Press release 133/2010
28 April 2010
According to Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb clean production and lower emissions have a positive impact not only on the environment but also on the European and Finnish economy.
“The EU is less dependent on coal than any other great economy in the world, and cleantech is becoming an increasingly important asset for us,” said Stubb in his speech at the Cleantech Finland Business Forum on 28 April.
Stubb sees a fundamental change in the world economy toward a greener, low-carbon production and consumption. “The world economy has already shifted to the era of cleantech competition. The United States is making significant investments, and the developing markets are growing even faster. If Europe wants to keep up, there's no room for indifference, Stubb continued.
According to Stubb, the EU can still be praised for its pioneering work on climate policies. “Europe has had extraordinary incentives for building competitive business in a sector, which inevitably will become significant also elsewhere.
Stubb estimates that the change will have significant repercussions on business and the related regulation both nationally and globally.
Minister Stubb proposed four measures in his speech:
1) Europe needs courage to lead instead of following. We must employ all means for severing the ties between economic growth and increased use of coal.
2) The EU should tax carbon on the EU level instead of country-specific taxes. The EU should also seriously consider increasing the emissions reduction to 30 percent.
3) Global business activities should be facilitated instead of fostering protectionism. The economic change has increased the risk of protectionism. In order to agree on common rules, we need closer and more strategic cooperation between the relevant countries.
4) We need to maintain a broad enough scope: Cleantech is not just about the climate change or fossil fuels. New challenges will emerge as the race for other natural resources (such as water) tightens up. This will have an impact on wider economic and business sectors.
Further information: Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, Press Attaché to the Minister, tel. 040 732 8340
- Minister Stubb's speech(Link to another website.) (in Finnish)