The Call on Carbon initiative, launched by Nordic climate-business networks – Climate Leadership Coalition (Finland), the Haga Initiative (Sweden) and Skift Business Climate Leaders (Norway) – urges governments to ramp up climate investments and adopt more effective carbon pricing systems.

The signatories call on countries to:

• back their net zero targets with with effective, robust, reliable and fit-for-purpose carbon pricing instruments consistent with the Paris Agreement and which will facilitate a cost-efficient investment path to reach net zero,
• align their carbon pricing instruments where appropriate between countries to create a stable and predictable investment environment and
• finalise the rules for the international market mechanism under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to support cost-effective mitigation efforts, create a level playing field and minimise carbon leakage, while enabling greater ambition.

Within first six weeks, the call has already attracted 87 signatories for the call. These signatories include companies, financial institutions, cities, universities and industrial associations, which are mainly Nordic at this phase. The call has gained support and interest also from European and international business networks. The most prominent signatory is the International Chamber of Commerce, the institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries.

“The Call on Carbon highlights the significant potential in business and government collaborating to enable effective carbon pricing that drives much-needed investment in climate solutions and sustainability,” said John W.H. Denton AO, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), when signing the call.

The Call on Carbon -initiative was presented to Nordic companies in a webinar on 29 March. Representatives of the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian governments were also present in the meeting.

The call aims to mobilise a large volume of visible support for carbon pricing from all over the world ahead of the November UNFCCC COP in Glasgow and to encourage governments to take faster, greater actions in this area.