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Tag archives for politics

World leaders gather in Sweden to discuss sustainability

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Tällber-Forum
Tällberg Forum. Photo: Tällberg Foundation.

July is approaching and lots of Swedes are preparing for their holidays, but many things are still happening on the environmental front. In Almedalen on the island of Gotland, the “Almedalen Week”, which is Sweden’s biggest political meeting place, will start on Sunday. There politicians, lobbyists, grassroots and “ordinary” people meet and talk about different political issues. In the program I find no less than 55 events with an environmental connection, which I would say is an indication of that sustainability issues are gaining importance in the political sphere.

Global discussions in Dalarna

But Almedalen is not the only big event coming up. Tomorrow I will take the train to Tällberg in the province of Dalarna. There I will follow how leaders from all over the world come together to discuss sustainability under the theme “How on earth can we live together, within the planetary boundaries?” Participants will talk about the current crises that the world is going through, such as finance, economies, labour markets, governance, security and climate. Among the guests I note Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway and an international leader in sustainable development and public health, the president of the Republic of Rwanda and Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who is prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Tällberg Foundation has arranged this gathering every summer for over 20 years now, with the aim to improve the understanding of global change and its effects on the world. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it this year.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 24, 2009

Ministers urge Sweden’s Vattenfall to stop investments in fossil fuels

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coal-power-plant
One of Vattenfall’s coal-power plants in Germany. Photo: Vattenfall.

During some time there has been quite a big environmental debate in Sweden about the state-owned energy company Vattenfall. Environmentalists have heavily criticized Vattenfall, which is one of Europe’s largest in the energy sector, for investing in coal powered plants instead of in renewable energy. An article in one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, Dagens Nyheter, sums up the company’s investment in renewable energy sources, such as wind-, sun- or sea-wave power, to just 28 per cent the coming five years. Making big investments abroad, the carbon dioxide emissions that Vattenfall as a company stands for is actually far bigger than Sweden’s emissions as a country.

Now the Swedish environmental minister, Andreas Carlgren, says he too is critical of Vattenfall’s big ownership in coal. This doesn’t match the Swedish climate policies very well, he states to the Swedish national radio.
On the SR International page you can find a short article in English.
The minister of industry and trade, Maud Olofsson, has announced the state-owned company will get new instructions.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 12, 2009

Swedes put environment on top of their EU list

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Today I am blogging from the train between Stockholm and Gothenburg. Spring has made every tree explode into green leaves and flowers, and I can’t wait to take a walk in the forest.

Between the gardens full of cherry blossoms that are flashing by outside the train window, once in a while I also see a billboard that encourages people to vote in the upcoming election for the European parliament.

With less than a month left until the election, campaigns have just started for real. According to a survey made by one of Sweden’s biggest news papers, the issues that Swedish voters prioritize most are climate change, the environment and energy. 23 percent say that these are most important. Hopefully this will show more in debates as the election gets closer.

What happens in the EU often seems distant and a bit abstract to many people. But when it comes to climate policies, EU has a big impact on what will happen at the national level.

One of the reasons why climate change politics are more burning than ever, is the UN climate conference in Copenhagen that will be held in December. There the actions that the world will take when the Kyoto agreement expires will be decided. In these negotiations the EU plays an important role. In just a few weeks Sweden is taking over the presidency of the EU. Expectations are high.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

May 13, 2009