Contrary to all targets, Sweden's greenhouse gas emissions increased last year. Greenpeace now demands a national emergency for the climate. The Climate Policy Council and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation want sales of fossil fuels to be stopped.
On May 10, passers-by could read the text "No need to panic”At the Riksdag quay.
The action was carried out by activists from Greenpeace due to the climate policy debate in the Riksdag that took place later that day. The debate would revolve around the Climate Policy Council's report, which shows that Sweden's emission reductions have stopped in recent years.
In a press release Rolf Lindahl, campaign manager for climate and energy at Greenpeace, describes the background to the campaign.
- It is clear that our politicians are stuck in the climate issue, which should lead to panic among everyone who understands what is at stake, Lindahl says.
- A climate emergency would mean that we as a society can begin to treat the climate crisis as the crisis it is. It needs to correspond to an increased state of emergency or national "staff situation", where we at all levels can quickly implement the required climate measures, mobilize the necessary resources and remove obstacles to these, says Rolf Lindahl in the press release.
Both Ireland and the United Kingdom have recently declared a climate emergency. Several cities around the world such as Vancouver, Basel and Los Angeles have also adopted similar declarations.
The Climate Policy Council is also dissatisfied with Sweden's way of dealing with climate emissions. They are an independent expert body whose task is to review Sweden's climate policy. In the 2019 annual report, they have examined the transport sector and state that Sweden's emission reductions have stopped. The Council emphasizes that the transport sector needs to be completely fossil-free by 2045 for Sweden to be able to achieve its climate goals. The report therefore recommends, among other things, that the government set a stop date for the sale of fossil fuels and that the state stop subsidizing car ownership.
The Climate Council's chairman Ingrid Bonde believes that the situation is serious.
- We should accelerate, but instead we have had a reduction in emissions of less than one percent for three years in a row. It is not enough in the long run. But there are good conditions and many positive initiatives that suggest that Sweden can increase the pace, he says Ingrid Farmer.
The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which wants to see a total ban on fossil fuels is on the same track. - What causes climate change is above all the burning of fossil fuels. Nevertheless, fossil fuels are still allowed. They are easily accessible and also cheap. In Sweden, the use of fossil fuels is subsidized by at least SEK 30 billion every year, which exceeds the record-breaking environmental budget of just over SEK 10 billion, writes Johanna Sandahl, chairman of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
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