Sweden is now “going backwards”.

The very young Swedish Minister of Climate and Environment, 28-year-old Romina Pormokhtari, can breathe. On Wednesday 17 January, Parliament rejected a no-confidence motion brought against it by the Greens and centrists. However, criticism of the climate policy pursued by the liberal-conservative government, backed by the Sweden Democrats (far right), continues. The opposition, scientists and NGOs, but also industry, are worried about seeing the country lose its position as a leader in the ecological transition, as it did in the early 1990s, when it was one of the first to adopt a carbon tax.

Also Read: Articles are reserved for our subscribers The Swedish government has been criticized for a lack of ambition in its climate policy

“If domestic policy does not match business ambitions and the need for immediate action, Sweden will fall behind in the transition and the risks of investing abroad”, in April 2023 the managers of the ten largest Swedish companies, including Volvo, Scania, H&M and AstraZeneca, warned. They called on the Govt “Take the Last Chance” The climate action plan is so ambitious that the law requires it to be introduced before the end of 2023.

Consideration of pushing back the first deadline – which led to a no-confidence motion against M^me Pormokhtari – The government finally announced on 21 December. However, while the minister promised big announcements, “The plan does not contain any measures that can be adopted by Parliament and only proposals that must be submitted for examination, without guaranteeing that they will one day be adopted”

Condemns Mikael Karlsson, an environmental science researcher at Uppsala University. “Basically, we are renewing Titanic But the ship continues to sink »That sums it up.

Similar 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 objectives for 2030”, declares its president, Asa Persson. Research director at the Stockholm Environment Institute, she recalls that the council has been calling for several years to accelerate the pace of transition. But instead of going fast, “Sweden is now going backwards”Lament m^me the person

“about a 180 degree turn”

In its latest finance bill, presented in the autumn of 2023, the government led by conservative Ulf Kristerson admitted that its policy would increase emissions for the second year in a row, to the tune of 4, from 8 to 8.7 million tonnes by 2030.

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