Friends of the Earth Finland

Communication about climate change has proven to be one of the big challenges in the mitigation of climate change. It often causes anxiety, makes people feel guilty or is boring or remote. What is urgently needed is communication that is more approachable and easier to understand. The aim of the communication concept Climate Hero Santa Claus was to use the warmth and familiarity of Santa Claus and communicate information in a humorous and positive way.

As everyone in Finland knows Santa Claus, he is a natural choice for a messenger with the task of telling people that climate change does not happen only somewhere far away but also in Finland, here and now. The new concept was used to highlight giving up fossil fuels as an election theme in order to persuade as many people as possible to vote for a climate-friendly candidate in the general elections of spring 2019.

The emissions caused by the burning of coal and peat together with the emissions from peat production account for just under one third of all carbon dioxide emissions in Finland. To make giving up fossil fuels in heat production one of the top priorities of the next government, we need policy decisions and MPs that promote this goal. The Santa Claus campaign aimed to double the number of these MPs in Parliament.

For six months, the Coal-free Finland campaign worked on the idea of Santa Claus as a climate hero, with the help of different trials such as the Santa Claus Climate Calendar and flash mobs to develop it into a form that could be used in the spring election campaign.

Friends of the Earth Finland is one of the Globe League finalists.