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BIOFORE
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
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.
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
new targets every five years so that
their progress could be monitored
Finnish researcher Antto Vihma
wants to see transparency
and comparability become
key tools in the consistent
evaluation of climate policy
actions.
Antto Vihma
TEXT
VESA PUOSKARI
PHOTOGRAPHY
UPM; VESA PUOSKARI