During a Helsingin Sanomat-hosted panel of party leaders about issues related to climate change, opposition Finns Party chair Riikka Purra's responses were very different from her peers' answers.
In addition to Purra, other party leaders in attendance included Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP), Petteri Orpo (NCP), Annika Saarikko (Cen), Maria Ohisalo (Green), Li Andersson (Left), Sari Essayah (CD), and Anders Adlercreutz (SPP).
All of the other party leaders agreed that Finland should continue aiming for carbon neutrality in 2035. They also agreed that Finland should take steps to meet a 30 percent land and marine conservation target.
Purra was also the only one to say that Finland's carbon neutrality target should be postponed until 2050.
Finland's target is more ambitious than that of other countries and, according to Purra, "kicks Finland in the ankles."
The panel also delved into other topics surrounding climate change, such as wind power, meat-eating and state-owned forests.
The government has set a goal for Finland to be carbon-neutral by 2035, in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Accord goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
However, there have been some serious obstacles in reaching those goals.
Court hands down money-laundering charges
Pirkanmaa District Court handed down a verdict in a fraud case involving a total of 21 individuals, Tampere-based Aamulehti reported. The crimes took place between 2017 and 2018, and the trial began in September of last year at the district court.
The perpetrators had stolen bills from mailboxes and altered the payment recipient's account number on them. Then they re-sent the altered invoices to the recipients, a number of whom paid the fraudsters rather than their actual bills.
In some cases, the victims had realised the scam before making a payment.
Some of the wrongly paid bills were worth tens of thousands of euros. According to the district court, the scams aimed at significant financial gain.
Twenty of the defendants were convicted of money laundering, and one was convicted of negligent money laundering. The longest prison sentence handed down in the case was one year and nine months. Under the law, a perpetrator of aggravated money laundering is subject to a prison sentence of at least four months and up to six years.
Low-income individuals impacted by rising petrol prices
Tabloid Iltalehti covered a background report by the Economic Policy Council which highlighted that low-income individuals who live alone or are single-parent families living in rural areas are among those who will be hit hardest by rising fuel prices.
IL noted that this is, of course, due in part to the fact that they have to use their cars more frequently in their daily lives.
From 2016 to 2022, the price of gasoline has risen by 60 percent and diesel by as much as 82 percent. As a result, the next government will have to deal with the issue of rising fuel prices early in their term, according the paper.
The automobile industry estimated that fuel prices at the pump could potentially increase by as much as 25-55 cents at the beginning of 2024.
Would you like a roundup of the week's top stories in your inbox every Thursday? Then sign up to receive our weekly email.
