“Sweden is fit to meet global competition”

On  April the 15th the Swedish Minister for the environment, Andreas Carlgren, was the keynote speaker at the lunch that followed the General Assembly of the French Chamber of Commerce in Sweden. The Minister spoke on the theme ”The challenge of combining Swedish environmental ambitions with economic growth and good conditions for companies” and here follows a summary of what Andreas Carlgren said during the lunch. 

The Minister pointed out that Sweden has a very good environmental situation today with low fossil use and low emission per capita. About 40% of Swedish energy is renewable.  This is the result of a combination of important steps taken during a long period of time:

1. Energy security. Sweden started an active environment policy already in the 60’s and after the oil crises in the 70’ regulations were created forcing the industry to improve standards and thereby also increase competitiveness. The relatively low emissions are largely due to the use of hydroelectric and nuclear power in electricity production and a significant use of biofuels. Today we have a competitive advantage. 

2. Energy efficiency has been improved for a long time.

3. District heating has been very important to reduce the oil consumption for heating to only about 3% in collective houses.

4. Political measures: There was a broad majority behind the carbon taxes and putting a price on carbon created a strong force for change. Emissions have been reduced by 17% since 1990 and economic growth has increased by close to 50% during the same period. Sweden has the lowest amount of emission per capita in the EU today. The ambition of the Swedish government is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 40 % by 2020 and the vision is to have zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

So, what are the challenges?
According to the Minister one of the biggest challenges is the transport sector. Sweden is a big country with big transport needs and we need to create an efficient transport sector with low fossil use and an upgraded vehicle stock. The railway must be developed as well as new fuels.

On a global level there is too little achieved. The international negotiations are slow but they will not slow down the pace of transformation. The transformation to a “green” economy is only related to global competition, not to international negotiations. China is doing enormous investments in green energy, cleantech and other areas related to environment. Sweden and the rest of the EU must take a leading role in this transformation process and global competition. France and Sweden share the same view on this strategic issue.

Summary by Kristina Hulteberg, French Chamber of Commerce

Here below some more photos from the lunch conference:

Katarina Barter, Andreas Carlgren, Pierre Maurice Aflalo and Kristina Hulteberg