Debate article
Dagens Nyheter 28 July 2010
Andreas Carlgren, Minister for the Environment

How Sweden will push the US and China on climate change

Minister for the Environment: A determined global alliance of forerunner countries is crucial for the successful outcome of future climate negotiations. In the autumn, Sweden will launch the `Forerunners Climate Coalition´, an alliance of forerunner countries with ambitious climate goals. We are also intending to initiate cooperation with a selection of less developed countries so that the total climate aid of 30 billion dollars will be used as effectively as possible. This will increase the pressure on major emitting economies such as China and the United States to agree to a legally binding global climate agreement, writes Andreas Carlgren.

The threat of climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time but the issue is no longer receiving as much media attention. At the same time, climate and environmental commitment throughout Sweden is strong, raising political expectations. This is why a clear account of the climate options must be given before the election.

Under the Alliance Government, Sweden is a leading nation with high national climate ambitions. The Swedish Presidency of the EU laid the foundation for strengthened international cooperation. New political initiatives are now needed to enable Sweden to play a proactive and constructive role in international climate cooperation.

Although the climate conference in Copenhagen did not go far enough, we must not give in to pessimism.
Disappointment makes it easy to forget the successes the EU achieved during the Swedish Presidency. The world's leaders agreed that the global temperature rise must not be allowed to exceed two degrees. Agreement was also reached on financing for climate action in developing countries, which by 2012 will have received climate aid amounting to 30 billion dollars. The EU is contributing the single largest share - one third of the total amount. As of 2020, climate aid will amount to 100 billion dollars every year.

Important initiatives have also been taken since the Copenhagen conference. Sweden had already decided in spring 2009 that, regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, it would reduce emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 - the highest target in Europe. The environment ministers in three large EU countries - the UK, Germany and France - have now promised to reduce their emissions by 30 per cent by 2020, whatever commitments other countries make. To further increase the pressure for adaptation in the European economy, the EU as a whole should reduce its emissions by 30 per cent over the next ten years.

We environment ministers in the EU have also jointly identified courses of action ahead of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, in December, as presented by Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action (DN Debatt, 17 July 2010). The EU is still aiming for a legally binding global agreement, but we are open to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol for a second period. This is on condition that the agreement is strengthened from the environmental point of view and that the major emitting countries, such as the United States and China, commit to binding emissions reductions.

To prevent the international climate negotiations from ending in more disappointment, we need role models to demonstrate that changes are possible and economically beneficial. A key to success at the future climate conferences in Mexico and South Africa is to create more flexible cooperation structures where countries are encouraged to take the lead on climate action. For this reason, Sweden should be an international force for the transition to a green economy.

Emissions must be reduced here and now. As environment minister in an alliance government after the election I will work to ensure that Sweden, through the EU, will push ahead and act as a global climate forerunner in three ways:

1. Sweden will be an international role model through its success at home. We will demonstrate how an industrialised and high-tech country develops into a green economy with the lowest climate impact per person of all industrialised countries. The winners of the future will be those who lead the race for a green economy. We are the first industrialised country to present a strategy to make ourselves independent of fossil energy. We are now increasing renewable energy at an unprecedented rate: in ten years´ time, half of our energy will be renewable - the highest share in Europe - and in twenty years' time, our car fleet will be independent of petrol and diesel. Climate adaptation creates new opportunities for technology, new markets, new jobs, and hence growth in the economy.

2. Sweden will launch a cooperation initiative - the `Forerunners Climate Coalition´. Cooperation will be based on the exchange of good practice and experiences and create an international network of countries that want to move ahead on climate targets more ambitious than those currently discussed in the international negotiations. This can help to establish a global dialogue that presents the opportunities accompanying the challenge of climate change. The countries and enterprises that make an early transition to a green low-emissions economy will be better able to keep up with the international competition for future markets. In the EU, natural countries to approach include both large countries, such as Germany, the UK and France, and smaller countries like the Netherlands and Denmark. Outside the EU, possible countries could be Japan, Australia and Norway.

3. Sweden will initiate cooperation with a strategic selection of the less developed countries to ensure that the total climate aid of 30 billion dollars in the near term will be used as effectively as possible. This requires cooperation on green technology, initiatives to protect tropical forests and better conditions to measure climate action that is taken. It requires proactive climate cooperation between North and South if genuine carbon dioxide emissions reductions are to be achieved; otherwise, the EU´s elevated climate ambitions will have little effect. It will increase the pressure on the major emitting economies, such as China and the United States, to sign up to a legally binding global climate agreement. Sweden is one of the world's largest development assistance actors and will take the initiative to further this cooperation with developing countries. We can build on long-term cooperation with key countries such as Mali, South Africa, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

A determined global climate alliance - including inspiring forerunners and examples of good practice - is essential to the success of the international negotiations. The initiative for a new dialogue should be taken this autumn ahead of the climate conference in Cancún and lead to a well-developed North-South dialogue ahead of the conference in South Africa next year. Sweden and the EU should continue to play a leading role in international climate cooperation and at the same time create international structures to support the less developed countries in their climate action - countries in greatest need of binding requirements and radical emissions reductions.

We therefore have to fight the `climate nationalism´ that came to the end of the road at the Copenhagen conference. This nationalism is evident among the major emitting economies that do not accept binding emissions requirements. It is also evident among the left-wing opposition and environmental critics, who claim that climate initiatives in less developed countries are an attempt by the rich world to buy its way out of climate responsibilities. But nothing could be further from the truth. Reducing the global impact of climate change requires both ambitious emissions reductions in the North and forceful climate initiatives in the South.

The Government has shown how Sweden´s climate targets will be achieved, tonne by tonne of emissions. Sweden will play a leading role in the EU and in partnership with other climate forerunners build global alliances to ensure that climate action produces real results.

Andreas Carlgren (Centre Party)
Minister for the Environment