Finland

For international environmental law-making, this year will be remembered by many as a series of disappointments.The end of the year was particularly packed with activities: the biodiversity and climate change Conferences of the Parties (COPs) as well as the thoughtto-be final round of negotiations on a new global treaty to control plastic pollution.Negotiations were difficult on all fronts, and little progress was achieved.Nevertheless, slight glimmers of light could also be spotted.Global climate change negotiations continued at COP-29 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the related meetings that were held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November.Expectations for the negotiations were not very high as the event was generally considered as an intermediate COP between the one held in Dubai in 2023 and the one to be held in Bel em in 2025.The mobilization of increased financial resources for both mitigation and adaptation efforts was at centre stage in the negotiations.Finland joined the European Union (EU) position that stressed the mobilization of all sources of financing, including private and public, and a broader base of funders-that is, participating states.A new climate-finance goal was finally agreed upon by the parties, but it left developing countries, and many others, disappointed.Finland also expressed its disappointment in the outcome of the negotiations and the lack of a universal commitment to the energy transition agenda agreed to in the previous COP in Dubai.On a positive note, at COP-29, the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform adopted a new three-year workplan, which was welcomed by Finland.The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, in the establishment of which Finland played a key role, met at the COP to discuss, in particular, the good practices and challenges of allocating and mobilizing financing for the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions.The Coalition was established on the recognition that the world's finance ministers possess a unique capacity to address the challenges posed by climate change and that the efforts could be strengthened through collective engagement.To date, finance ministers from over ninety countries have signed on to the Helsinki Principles, through which the members of the Coalition demonstrate their leadership.Negotiations on global biodiversity governance continued at COP-16 in Cali, Colombia, from October to November.Finland was prepared to contribute to the parties' agreement on strong rules for the implementation of the biodiversity targets, including monitoring and