The very young Swedish Minister for Climate and Environment, Romina Pourmokhtari, 28 years old, can take a breather. On Wednesday, January 17th, Parliament rejected the motion of no confidence from the Greens and the Center. Nevertheless, there is still criticism of the climate policy of the liberal-conservative government, which is supported by the Sweden Democrats (extreme right). The opposition, scientists and NGOs, as well as industry, fear that the country could lose the leadership position in ecological transition that it achieved in the early 1990s when it was one of the first companies to introduce a carbon tax.
Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers The Swedish government criticizes the lack of ambition of its climate policy
“If domestic policy does not match business ambitions and the need for urgent action, Sweden will fall behind in the transition and there is a risk that investments will be shifted abroad,” warned the heads of ten of Sweden's largest companies, including in April 2023 Volvo, Scania and H&M and AstraZeneca. They called on the government to “seize the last chance” by being ambitious with the climate action plan, which the law requires it to present before the end of 2023.
Initially considering postponing the deadline – which led to a motion of no confidence in Ms Pourmokhtari – the government finally revealed this on December 21. Although the minister had promised big announcements, “the plan does not contain any measures that could be adopted by Parliament, but only proposals that must be submitted for consideration, without guaranteeing that they will one day be adopted,” laments researcher Mikael Karlsson in Environmental Science from Uppsala University. “Basically we refit the Titanic a little, but the ship continues to sink,” he summarizes.
The same frustration on the part of the Swedish Climate Policy Council: “The plan still aims for carbon neutrality by 2045, but without explaining how Sweden will achieve its 2030 goals,” explains its president Asa Persson. She is research director at the Stockholm Environment Institute and recalls that the council has been calling for an acceleration of the transition for several years. But instead of going faster, “Sweden is now going backwards,” complains Ms. Persson.
“An almost 180 degree turn”
In its latest finance bill, presented in autumn 2023, the government led by conservative Ulf Kristersson admits that its policies will lead to a four percent increase in emissions for the second year in a row. 8 to 8.7 million tonnes by 2030.
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