Swedish Climate Committee proposes 75-90 per cent reductions by 2050
A parliamentary committee on which all seven parliamentary parties are represented submitted its 509 page proposal for a new Swedish climate policy to the Swedish Government on the 1st of April. The committee’s report will form the basis of the new Swedish climate policy bill planned for the autumn of 2008. The committee proposes that by 2050 greenhouse gas emission levels for Sweden should be 75–90 per cent lower than levels for 1990. By the end of the century, greenhouse gas emissions in Sweden should be close to zero. All seven parliamentary parties represented on the committee also agreed on an action plan containing a large number of measures and instruments aimed at reducing emissions.
As regards the 2020 target, Sweden must continue to push for an EU target of 30 per cent reduction on 1990 emission levels by 2020. Sweden must set a national target that corresponds to the country’s contribution to a global climate agreement. The target must reflect Sweden’s commitment within the framework of a 30 per cent emission reduction within the EU. According to the Committee’s calculations, this corresponds to an emission reduction of around 35 per cent and implementation of the Committee’s entire action plan would reduce emissions by approximately a further 3 percentage points.
“The proposed target means that Sweden is aiming at lower emission levels by 2020 than any other EU member state to date. I anticipate presenting a climate bill in the autumn that contains a national target with this level of ambition,” says Andreas Carlgren, the Minister for the Environment.
Swedish research programme on Climate, Impacts and Adaptation (SWECIA)
SWECIA is a new interdisciplinary Swedish research programme that will be launched in January 2008. SWECIA extends and brings together disciplinary research on climate, biology/ecology, economics and social sciences. The participating institutes are the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Stockholm University, Lund University and the Stockholm Environmental Institute.
21st Century Challenges in Regional Climate Modelling
In May 2009 an international conference on climate modelling and impact studies will take place in Lund. The meeting will cover a wide range of RCM-related topics from basic research to applications such as impact studies in the context of climate variability and change.
Sweden: Climate-related Challenges and Opportunities
In December 2006 the Swedish Government took three steps to broaden and deepen cooperation between business, scientists and politicians by setting up
- A Commission for Sustainable Development
- A Scientific Council on Climate Issues
- A Parliamentary Drafting Committee
It is the Government’s hope that these initiatives will make possible a deeper analysis of climate-related challenges and opportunities on which to base conclusions, goals and concrete action.
One of the outcomes will be the Climate Policy Bill which the Government plans to present in 2008. Another purpose behind the initiatives is to enable Sweden to play a leading part in the international negotiations for a new climatic order, which need to take place during the Swedish EU presidency in 2009.
Commission for Sustainable Development
The Government has set up a Commission for Sustainable Development. Raised ambitions in the field of climatic policy call for deeper, more advanced cooperation between business, politicians and scientists. The work of the Commission will be essential to the transformation of Swedish society.
Taking sustainable development as a starting-point, the Commission will encourage cross-disciplinary research, adopting an international perspective and taking ecological, social and economic considerations into account.
The focus of the Commission’s work will be climate change. The Commission will have in view in particular the horizon of 2009, the year of Sweden’s EU presidency. It will investigate how progress towards sustainable development and environmentally driven growth can be encouraged by the streamlining and modernisation of organisations, regulations and policy instruments.
The Commission will be chaired by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, with Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren as vice-chair. It will be a broad-based group, comprising representatives of business and autonomous organisations, scientists, civil servants and politicians.
Scientific Council on Climate Issues
The Government has set up a Scientific Council on Climate Issues. Its principal role will be to provide scientific analysis ahead of the Climate Policy Bill 2008.
An important task of the Council will be producing scientific documentation and recommendations for future commitments by the EU and Sweden. In the first instance the Council will recommend the appropriate goal or goals of Swedish climate policy at both national and international levels.
The Scientific Council on Climate Issues will be chaired by Professor Lisa Sennerby Forsse, vice-chancellor of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Other members have been appointed having specific expertise on climate issues.
The Council is expected to announce its recommendations on new climate policy goals in summer 2007.
Parliamentary Drafting Committee on Climate
All the parliamentary parties have been invited to participate in a parliamentary drafting committee whose main task will be the drafting of the Climate Policy Bill. The committee’s directives and chairperson will be announced early in 2007. The Government will aim to achieve a broad political consensus on Sweden’s climate policy efforts.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Energy Agency have been jointly commissioned by the Government to prepare documentation ahead of the evaluation of climate policy. Part of this documentation will be handed over in spring 2007 and will play an important part in the committee’s initial deliberations.
The committee will have early access to the latest evaluation report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other international reports for its assessment of Sweden’s efforts.
Another important input will be the recommendations of the Scientific Council on Climate Issues, which will be delivered to the drafting committee.
Swedish Vulnerability Analysis
The government inquiry on Climate and Vulnerability was appointed in the summer of 2005 to map the vulnerability of the Swedish society to climate change and the potential to adapt to it. The investigators will present their proposals in October 2007.
Most of the focus will be on infrastructure (i.e. roads, railways and telecommunication), buildings, energy- and water supply, forestry, agriculture, human health and biodiversity. A specific objective during 2006 is to solve the urgent need for regulation of the runoff from the big lake Vänern and from lake Mälaren.
The vulnerability analysis will be based on climate scenarios from the IPCC and regionalisations of climate change scenarios produced by the Rossby centre at SMHI. A broad cooperation with central, regional and local authorities, representatives from the trade and industry as well as the research community and other organisations, will enhance the analysis and raise awareness amongst sectors. Experiences from activities in other countries regarding vulnerability and adaptation will also be taken into consideration.