Hallitusohjelmaan vaikuttamisen rooli korostuu energiasektorilla
National Energy and Climate Strategy Completed, but Without Major New Policy Directions
The National Energy and Climate Strategy was submitted to Parliament as a report on 4 December 2025. The main objective of the strategy is to outline how Finland will accelerate the clean transition, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen carbon sinks. The strategy focuses on achieving the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets as well as the goals set in the Climate Act. Scenario calculations assess emission trends and energy balances up to 2040.
According to Minister of the Environment and Climate Sari Multala, the strategy brings together the government’s shared climate and energy policy guidelines and supports investment and growth related to the clean transition. Based on information that leaked during the preparation phase, this round placed particular emphasis on the policy entries of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government programme, and the strategy contains very few new initiatives for the energy sector. At the same time, the delayed publication into the latter half of the government term leaves very little time for implementation — preparations must be well advanced during spring 2026.
Although the preparation of the current strategy has been described as challenging — and this partly explains why the work was prolonged — the previous round did not fare much better. On the contrary! During Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s term, the publication of the strategy was delayed until the end of June 2022, the final stretch of the government term, with the previous parliamentary elections held in spring 2023. The Sipilä government, however, succeeded differently and completed its strategy already in November 2016, in the early part of its term.
Energy companies follow the preparation of the Energy and Climate Strategy with great interest and aim to present their views at different stages of the process. However, the current trend highlights the role of the government programme as the main guiding document for the energy sector. The role of the Energy and Climate Strategy appears to be primarily to present updated scenarios, with few genuinely significant new policy directions. Therefore, energy companies should focus their influence especially on the government programme phase if the goal is to secure long-term, investment-friendly policies for the sector.
When Predictability Wavers, the Call for a Parliamentary Model Grows
Traditionally, the energy sector calls for long-term and predictable policy. This is understandable, as investments in facilities are substantial and their lifespans span several decades. The EU is often blamed for erratic and overly restrictive regulation. Yet Finland is no stranger to such behaviour either. A good example is the renewable transport fuel distribution obligation, which has been raised or lowered in recent years depending on policymakers’ sensitivity to fuel price politics. Similar fluctuation can be seen regarding data centres — whether Finland should promote or discourage their establishment has been difficult to discern.
The trend is concerning if energy and climate policy adopts a pattern in which each sitting government changes key policy instruments based on short-term developments. At times, the sector has therefore suggested establishing a parliamentary energy working group to ensure long-term policymaking across electoral cycles. A recent example of such a model is the parliamentary fiscal policy working group agreed last October, tasked with drawing up a plan to restore public finances. Could this approach offer a model for sustainable energy and climate policy as well?
Parliamentary Elections Are Coming — When to Influence
The next parliamentary elections will take place in spring 2027, and the future governing parties will certainly have their own priorities regarding energy policy. Many mistakenly believe that influencing the government programme happens in the election spring or at the latest when government negotiations begin. This is a misconception, as the parties are already preparing their goals and programmes for the next term. Government ministries are also drafting their own civil service views, which will be used in the preparation of the next government programme. In recent elections, the programme of the winning prime minister’s party has been emphasised as the clear foundation for the government programme, as my colleague Riina Nevamäki wrote in her earlier blog.
Since key political decisions for the energy sector are made during the drafting of the government programme, the time to influence is now. If the energy industry wants to shape the decisions made in Finland during the next government term, discussions with parties and ministries must begin before drafts and policy directions are finalised.
Harri Haavisto
The author is Blic's manager.