SDG N° 13a

International climate finance is part of Finland’s official development assistance administrated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA).

In 2017–2019, the climate finance reported by Finland amounted to approx. EUR 47–147 million and accounted for around 6% to 15% of the total spent on development cooperation. The policy of the current Finnish Government is to scale up Finland's climate finance and to direct one half of it to climate change adaptation.

The National Audit Office of Finland has assessed the preconditions provided by the steering of Finland's international climate finance for its effectiveness. The audit found that the MFA does not have a published plan regarding the amount, allocation and effectiveness of the increasing climate finance. The recently updated theories of change and indicators of development policy as well as the case management system of the MFA provide a good basis for results-based management, collection of statistics and reporting on climate finance. However, the climate finance statistics and reporting are susceptible to errors. Moreover, the MFA produces and receives information on the effectiveness of climate finance to a variable degree from various funding instruments and organisations that channel funding. The information on the effectiveness of climate finance is partly inconsistent and inadequate, which makes it difficult to obtain an overview of it. The MFA has used the information on the results of climate finance relatively little in its decision-making, evaluations, reporting and communications. The steering of climate finance has been decentralised to several units of the ministry without overall coordination. The MFA’s human resources for the steering of climate finance are partly meagre, which is a risk to the quality of the steering.

The MFA should:

• i) draw up a public plan for Finland’s climate finance, justifying the choices made;
• ii) justify its funding decisions on climate finance from the perspective of climate results;
• iii) ensure that climate objectives and indicators will be included in the results frameworks of climate finance programmes and projects;
• iv) ensure that the climate results of the finance are monitored, recorded and reported as systematically and consistently as possible, and particularly ensure that in the new interventions recorded as climate finance their response to climate objectives is properly justified;
• v) define clearly the roles of its relevant actors in the planning, coordination and monitoring of the climate finance, and ensure an appropriate balance between the relevant tasks and resources in its operating units.

The audit document materials consisted of planning, decision-making, monitoring, evaluation, statistical, reporting and communication documents related to climate finance produced by the MFA and other organisations that channel and use Finland’s climate finance. Further information was additionally received from the MFA, Finnfund and the Nordic Development Fund via e-mail and at remote meetings. To analyse the data, a qualitative content analysis of the documents and discussions was produced. Both deductive analysis (based on looking for certain themes and entities in the documents) and inductive analysis (based on examining the documents without predetermined categories) were used.

The mining industry is directly or indirectly linked to several SDG goals. These include for example goals N° 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 15.

The economic, social, and ecological sustainability of mining is debated in Finland, in the EU and around the world. In the report Perspectives on sustainable mining in Finland this topic is approached from the following perspectives: the connection between sustainable mining and central government finances, objectives and implementation of Finland’s mining policy, increasing the added value of battery minerals and battery industry, circular economy solutions for mining operations, local acceptance of mining operations (social licence to operate, SLO), and the management of environmental risks arising from abandoned and closed mines.

Even though mining is a commercial activity, it is connected with the state and central government finances in many ways. Environmental protection and ecologically sustainable mining have also been major themes in Government Programmes in the 2010s. The Finnish Mineral Strategy published in 2010 and the Sustainable Extractive Industries Action Plan presented in 2013 are the two key strategies guiding Finland’s mining and mineral policy. The Sustainable Mining Network and the mining responsibility system created by it were established on the basis of the recommendations set out in the Sustainable Extractive Industries Action Plan. Mining sector actors have been mostly satisfied with the networked activities and the responsibility system. On the other hand, it seems that the 2010 Mineral Strategy and the Sustainable Extractive Industries Action Plan of 2013 do not otherwise necessarily guide the activities anymore. In fact, the question arises whether these strategies should be updated or overhauled. National and various EU-level strategies could also be coordinated with each other more effectively.

Finland presented its national battery strategy in early 2021. Batteries play a key role in the achievement of climate targets. Finland has also worked to improve the added value of battery minerals and battery industry. The key strategic objective of the state-owned Finnish Minerals Group is to develop an electric car battery value chain in Finland.

Circular economy solutions for the mining sector can be used to implement circular economy policy objectives. However, most of the circular economy solutions are still on a trial basis. The problem is to make these solutions more widely and systematically available.

In order to be commercially successful, a mining company must gain the acceptance of the local community (social licence to operate, SLO).  Gaining local acceptance is not always a straightforward matter. There may be major differences between operating practices of mining companies and they sometimes fail to receive the social licence to operate.

In the past, many Finnish mines were abandoned and closed using methods that do not meet today’s environmental and safety standards. In Finland, the state of closed and abandoned extractive waste sites has been examined in the KAJAK projects since the 2010s. A number of projects to reform the environmental liability legislation applicable to mining operations are also under way.

This is not an audit report. Instead, it is a landscape review that examines sustainable mining from many different perspectives. The report therefore does not present audit recommendations. However, the last subsection of each chapter of the report discusses opportunities for development.

Written material was used as sources and a large number of interviews with mining and mineral industry experts were carried out. Mining companies and experts also provided the NAOF with valuable information in writing. Written material was used as sources and a large number of interviews with mining and mineral industry experts were carried out. Mining companies and experts also provided the NAOF with valuable information in writing. Written material was used as sources and a large number of interviews with mining and mineral industry experts were carried out. Mining companies and experts also provided the NAOF with valuable information in writing.