Neste on climate change discussion in Finland: transport-related emissions must be reduced immediately

Neste on climate change discussion in Finland: transport-related emissions must be reduced immediately

(PRESS RELEASE) ESPOO, 9-Apr-2019 — /EuropaWire/ — Neste calls on the next government in Finland to set more ambitious targets for emission reductions for the next four years. Neste believes that transport-related emissions must be reduced immediately and for the purpose both existing and new solutions must be developed. The company has just sent an open letter to Finland’s future government outlining that the current discussion on climate change in the country oversimplifies the complex questions surrounding it. According to Neste, there are no simple answers to questions surrounding climate change, and to prove that the company challenged a group of influencers including the company’s President and CEO to take a polygraph test.

Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste:

“Climate change is the biggest challenge of our times, and the clock is ticking. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, we may have less than 12 years to tackle climate change. It is a challenge to which there are no easy answers. To succeed, all the possible alternatives need to be utilized. We must implement both small and large solutions as soon as possible. If we don’t act now, soon it will be too late.”

Neste’s CEO was one of the first to go through a lie detector test using a real polygraph machine moderated by a trained professional. Participants in the test answered complicated questions on climate change such as, among others, “Do you believe that climate change can be stopped?” and “Are you personally doing enough to prevent climate change?”

According to Peter Vanacker the questions during the polygraph test were impossible to answer, which only shows hat there truly are no simple answers to the complex questions related to the climate change. Commenting on the lie detector test, he added:

“Agreeing to take the lie detector test was naturally unnerving. Taking the test means that one must confront difficult questions and be exposed to one’s own hesitations and judgement from others. However, there was a trick, which was that the questions were impossible to answer. It showed that there truly are no simple answers to these complex questions.”

Communications entrepreneur Peter Nyman, researcher Tuuli Kaskinen, Professor of Practice Pekka Sauri and journalist Riku Rantala were among the Finnish influencers that took part in the polygraph test. They all agree on the fact that there were no easy answers to climate change.

Commenting on the lie detector test journalist Riku Rantala said: 

“In the climate debate and especially in politics, it is common to force people to take sides against one another, which makes the problem almost impossible to solve. With climate change the truth is that for the first time we are all in the same boat and lost without a solution. The next government needs to achieve results and clear reductions. Not just plans, or good intentions, but results.”

Elaborating further on the climate debate Neste’s CEO Peter Vanacker says that no one has to face the challenges of climate change alone, not even the governments. He continued:

“Companies create solutions, and for instance our promise is to help our customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 million tons every year by 2030. Furthermore, our goal is to reduce our own carbon footprint in production ahead of EU’s climate and energy targets. Sustainability must be at the core of companies, and they must continuously assess their business from a sustainability point-of-view. We are no exceptions to this. The Finnish people make their own decisions every day and also cast their votes during the upcoming Finnish Parliamentary Elections. People achieve results every day. More and more of us are making smaller or larger behavioral changes in our way of living. This we can be proud of.”

The open letter  as well as the video clip taken during the polygraph tests can be found on the following web site: www.totuudenhetki.fi (in Finnish). People are invited to take part in the discussion and pose a challenge to the future government of Finland in order to set ambitious climate targets. Also, people interested in the climate debate can follow the hashtag #totuudenhetki for more information.

Media can reach out to Kaisa Lipponen, who is Director, Communications and Brand Marketing at Neste. Additional point of contacts are as follows: Mika Hyötyläinen, VP Marketing, Marketing & Services, Neste, tel. +358 (0)10 458 4132; Ilkka Räsänen, Director, Public Affairs, Neste, tel. +358 50 458 5123.

SOURCE: Neste Corporation