Uhka vai mahdollisuus? : Ilmastopolitiikka ja Suomen tulevaisuus : ilmastolakikeskustelujen ja maakunnallisten ilmastodiskurssien analyysi

The main objective of this thesis was to examine climate change discourses and their meaning to the future of Finland. The study focused on the political level discourses. The national review was made by studying the discussions held at the Parliament of Finland on 10.6.2014 and 25.2.2015 concerning the Climate Act. A shorter regional review was made based on interviews of the Regional Mayors in Finland. The principal method in the thesis was data-driven, qualitative content analysis. The Climate Act related discussions by the Members of the Parliament were analysed by looking into the contents of the arguments and the material from the Regional Mayor interviews were analysed by looking more into the signifiers that were attached to climate change. Another method used in the thesis was a theory-driven one based on the environmental discourses by John S. Dryzek. This method was used to analyse the Climate Act discussions and the purpose was to find out if the Finnish climate change related discussion contains any of the environmental discourses proposed by Dryzek in his theoretical studies. One aim of the thesis was also examine if any possibilities have been incorporated into the climate discussions. The analysis based on the data-driven method found five thematic groups of arguments from the speeches of the MP's supporting the Climate Act. The arguments focused on the content and targets of the Act, the institutionalisation of climate issues, the meaning of the Climate Act to national climate policy, strengthening the legitimacy of the Climate Act and the possibilities of climate change. The MP's that voted for the acceptance of the Climate Act in the Finnish Parliament also brought out concerns regarding the Act. The arguments containing these concerns were grouped into four thematic groups: Arguments illustrating the effects of the Climate Act to national economical success, the doubts concerning the effectiveness of national climate policy, the content of the Climate Act and the administrative issues. The MP's who voted against the Climate Act used the same thematic arguments, that the ones expressing their concerns. MP's attached manifold signifiers to climate change, and these were also examined in the thesis. The discussions concerning the Climate Act were also analysed from the political party perspective with both the data- and theory-driven methods. The analysis found that there were clear differences in the emphasis of the different arguments between parties. The analysis of the Regional Mayor interviews was made by the data-driven method by looking and analysing the signifiers attached to climate change. The signifiers were grouped into three groups according to the placement given to climate change in regional actions. Climate change was defined as either a central, a crosscutting or a secondary theme. Some of the Regional Mayors also described the public opinion concerning climate change in the region and this was also examined shortly in the thesis. The possibilities linked to climate change were almost without exception connected to the industrial policy success factors of the regions. The main results of the thesis were the questioning of the consensus regarding the approval of the Finnish Climate Act, the restrained reformist goals of national climate policy, the dual nature of climate policy as a threat and as a possibility, the division of the Finnish regions by the willingness to execute climate actions in the regional level and first and foremost the connection between climate policy and Finnish wellbeing and economical success. Based on the results presented in the thesis a theory of the interconnectedness of climate policy and economical success was developed. The theory aims at explaining the contents of the Finnish political climate discourses from a new perspective.