Environment and climate

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde are travelling to New York for the opening of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on 21 September 2021.

The Government has decided to allow a capacity increase of the interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, pending a repository for final disposal being constructed and put into operation. An intermediate decision on interim storage is necessary to safeguard the energy supply in the coming years.

On Wednesday, the European Commission presented ‘Fit for 55’, the EU’s new climate package. The package contains the Commission’s proposals for reducing emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. Minister for EU Affairs Hans Dahlgren welcomes the package, which represents a major and important step for the EU’s climate action.

This year’s theme for UN World Environment Day was ‘Ecosystem Restoration’. One Swedish example is the Government’s drive in recent years to restore wetlands. This has a positive impact on biodiversity and the capacity to bind carbon dioxide. Artic wetlands are at severe risk of destruction due to climate change.

Swedish Minister for Environment and Climate, Per Bolund, Minister for Gender Equality and Housing, Märta Stenevi, and Minister for Energy and Digital Development, Anders Ygeman, met with French Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, on her visit to Stockholm, to discuss joint efforts to enhance the green transition at national, European and global levels.

With a view to inspiring and influencing Swedish development policy, Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh will launch an international advisory group for action on the environment, climate and biodiversity in connection with World Environment Day on 5 June. The advisory group will make an important contribution to fine-tuning Sweden’s global engagement in the most affected countries ahead of coming international high level meetings on climate, environment and biodiversity.

The government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party have agreed on supporting SAS to access liquidity equivalent to SEK 1.5 billion. This support from the Swedish State is subject to the European Commission’s approval of the measures and corresponding support from the Danish State.

Discussions at the special meeting of the European Council on 24 May were dominated by the events in Belarus involving the forced landing of a passenger plane in Minsk to detain a journalist. The EU leaders also discussed the situation in Russia. On 25 May, discussions mainly centred on EU climate action and vaccine coordination.

Sweden and Kenya today jointly presented a resolution for adoption by the UN General Assembly that lays the foundation for the international UN conference ‘Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity’.

The United States and President Joe Biden have joined the global Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT). The Group, launched in 2019 by Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gathers countries and companies to drive the low-carbon transition of energy-intensive industries.

Speech by the Minister for Environment and Climate Per Bolund at a roundtable discussion on April 23 led by US Climate Envoy John Kerry and Secretary of State Antony Blinken during President Joe Biden's climate summit. Check against delivery.

On Monday 29 March, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is on a virtual visit to Singapore.

Vaccines and COVID-19 coordination were the main items on the agenda when Prime Minister Stefan Löfven met with other EU leaders at a video conference on 25 March. The single market and digital transformation were also on the agenda. The conference ended with a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

The UN brought together the world’s environment ministers at the virtual environment assembly UNEA 5, which focused among other things on global recovery after the pandemic. Several countries, including Sweden, highlighted the problems of plastic pollution in the oceans and the need for a global agreement on plastics. The assembly concluded with a kick-off ahead of the 50th anniversary of the UN Environment Programme, which will be marked in 2022.

In 2017, Sweden’s Riksdag decided by a large political majority to introduce a climate policy framework with a climate act for Sweden. This framework is the most important climate reform in Sweden’s history and sets out implementation of the Paris Agreement in Sweden. By 2045, Sweden is to have zero net emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Together with nine other EU Member States, Sweden – through Minister for Energy and Digital Development Anders Ygeman – has signalled that it does not support the proposal to introduce additional requirements on bioenergy in the EU taxonomy. The countries presented their position in a joint letter to the European Commission.

The Government decided today to reduce emission amounts by an additional 10.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by cancelling emissions units.

The world’s environment ministers are gathering virtually on 22 and 23 February to discuss green recovery and decide on priorities ahead of the United Nations Environment Assembly. Minister for Environment and Climate Per Bolund is participating in the meeting.

Minister for Higher Education and Research Matilda Ernkrans is taking part in a high-level meeting today, Wednesday 3 February. Participants have been convened by UNESCO to mark the start of the UN’s Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which starts in 2021.

Civil society, the business sector and municipalities have an important role in the efforts for sustainable development. State Secretary Eva Svedling invited organisations and networks that are involved in this issue from different perspectives to a discussion on the focus of the Stockholm+50 high-level conference. One suggestion from the consultation was that Stockholm+50 should be action-oriented and highlight the conditions for, and obstacles to, implementing global goals.