UPM-Biofore-Magazine-1-2016-EN

TEXT VESA PUOSKARI

PHOTOGRAPHY UPM; VESA PUOSKARI

Call for transparency in international climate policy F innish researcher Antto Vihma wants to see transparency and comparability become key tools in the consistent evaluation of climate policy actions. Finnish researcher Antto Vihma wants to see transparency and comparability become key tools in the consistent evaluation of climate policy actions.

constantly and systematically,” says Antto Vihma, a climate policy expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Vihma concedes that the UN-led climate process has its weaknesses but, for now, there are no better options on the horizon. “The interests of superpowers like the US and China are critical to the progress of the climate process, so the UN cannot be blamed. I doubt the result would be any different if the forumwere different and there were fewer players at the table.” France played the gracious host Vihma praises the ambitious host country France for its thorough preparatory work to conclude an international climate agreement at the Paris summit. For example, the chair regrouped the agenda under four pillars, which was a marked improvement on previous meetings. “The chair’s first objective was to register emission-cutting targets that

International climate summits are like enormous flagships where world leaders gather to negotiate climate issues on the highest political level. The new climate summit in Paris will not change the world overnight, but the main point is to keep the process moving forward. “I hope the conference can help us create an international system for monitoring

the transparency and comparability of climate actions. Countries could for instance announce their climate policy results and set

Antto Vihma

new targets every five years so that their progress could be monitored

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