Sweden was formerly seen as a pioneer in climate change concerns, but a new right-wing administration threatens to undermine that reputation.
The nation’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson sought to abolish the Ministry of Environment on Tuesday, the day he entered office. Although she will report to the Minister for Energy, Business, and Industry, the nation will still have a Minister of Climate and Environment.
According to Swedish Greens leader Per Bolund, who was quoted by Euronews, “It is hard to convey more clearly how little this government regards the environment and the climate. This is a historic choice that will have grave effects on environmental problems.
Sweden is known for being a rather green nation. Although it didn’t have a separate environment ministry until 20 years after creating the Environmental Protection Agency, it was one of the first countries in the world to do so. Green Matters said that it was also the first nation to pay carbon and that more than half of its electricity comes from renewable sources. Additionally, it came in second place on the Climate Change Performance Index, just behind Denmark (CCPI).
But none of that suggests that it can afford to regress. The top three positions on the CCPI index were left empty since, according to the index, even the best-ranked nations do not have plans that are consistent with keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The group claimed that even if all nations showed the same level of dedication as the front-runners right now, it would not be sufficient to stop disastrous climate change.
But Sweden might no longer be a front-runner right now. A coalition of right-wing parties secured a slim majority of 176 out of 349 seats in the nation’s parliament in the elections held in September, according to a report from The New York Times at the time.
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The far-right Sweden Democrats, who have attempted to distance themselves in recent years from its Nazi beginnings, have experienced a surge in support, which has enabled them to win. According to Bloomberg, the party is anti-immigrant and disagrees with Sweden’s plan to become carbon-neutral by 2045.
According to Reuters, the leader of the Moderates, Kristersson, announced on October 14 that he would work with the Sweden Democrats to form a three-party minority government. Then, on Tuesday, he revealed his new cabinet, with Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch serving as Minister for Energy, Business, and Industry, and 26-year-old Liberal Member of Parliament Romina Pourmokhtari serving as Minister of Climate and Environment.
Mikael Karlsson, a researcher at Uppsala University, told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the government’s intentions show a shredding of environmental policy, which is regretful but I’m not shocked about, according to Bloomberg News. Their encouragement of heavy fossil fuel and power use runs counter to the tenets of environmental policy that have been in place for the past 50 years.
According to Euronews, the incoming administration has pledged to uphold Sweden’s national and international climate commitments. It intends to achieve this in part by promoting nuclear power, including by subsidizing new reactors and making it more difficult to close down existing ones. Additionally, it pledged to increase the electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
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Bloomberg claimed that other measures would lessen the number of biofuels that would need to be added to gasoline in order to raise gas prices. This might make it more difficult to achieve the target of reducing transportation emissions by 70% by 2030.
Sweden is the most recent illustration of how the emergence of populist right-wing parties has hurt efforts to combat climate change. According to research published in April, the influence of these parties might lower a country’s score on its climate policy by about 25%.
Sweden, a former leader in tackling climate change, eliminates the environment ministry.
