Climate change is the most central and critical challenge of our age. Furthermore, digitalisation and the demographic change create pressure for the public service system as well as accelerate industry transformation. The upcoming 10–15 years are critical for answering the challenges and possibilities that climate change and digitalisation generate.
Concrete actions to tackle climate change are needed rapidly, but the ongoing profound national and international legislation change – and consequent results – will take time to materialise. In addition to changes in legislation and skills development, the transformation urgently requires significant additional investments. In Finland the annual need for additional investments has been estimated to amount to over one billion euros.
During the Vuosaari climate summit on February 3rd, 2020 Sanna Marin’s government stated: “The government is creating a climate fund based on the Finnish State Development Company Vake. The fund will focus on combating climate change, driving digitalisation and advancing low-carbon industry. The transition to a low-carbon economy requires sufficient investments in developing a circular economy, clean technology solutions, and energy efficiency. Vake’s capital is more than 2 billion euros. During this government term, the climate fund will be able to use hundreds of millions of euros.”
During the discussion on the Government’s fourth supplementary budget on June 2nd, the operations of the future climate fund were also referred to (link to press release regarding the supplementary budget handling). At present, we are waiting for more detailed information regarding the climate fund’s policies from our owner. We will communicate more about this matter once the information reaches our company.