A new international climate treaty is due to be hammered out in Copenhagen on 7-18 December. The plan is to get all nations to contribute to reducing emissions. But many are dragging their feet. A divided Europe and some major offenders are reluctant to make more commitments.
Against this background, Swedish consultant Richard Almgren kicked off an environment seminar under the umbrella of Confederation of Swedish Enterprise , noting that Sweden’s environmental work is good but that the global effort is poorer.
Swedish greenhouse gas emissions have almost halved while the global figure has doubled. Acidification of soil and water is slowing in Sweden while amounts of hazardous substances such as DDT and PCB are dropping. This is detailed in a report from Confederation of Swedish Enterprise presented at the Stockholm seminar, describing environmental trends in Sweden over an extended period.
“Improvement is evident. While production increases yearly, environmental impact is dropping on the home front and is now a fifth of what it was 30-40 years ago. Sweden is meeting its environmental commitments and is far ahead of Europe and the rest of the world,” said the report’s author, Richard Almgren.
Swedish environmental awareness began in the 1970s, prompted by several interconnected factors, according to his report.
Industries like steel and pulp were going through structural changes, aiding the introduction of new technologies. The oil crisis brought a move from oil to bio-fuels and electricity, and new legislation beefed up environmental policy.
To this, Lars Gustavsson, general secretary of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), replied that Sweden may have done much for the environment but that the key question for the future is how to resolve complex environmental issues when faced with contradictory interests.
“Sweden is a strong environmental brand. If we play our cards well, and keep our perspective global, replacing old solutions with new ones, we will create export wealth and new jobs and increase prosperity,” he said.
Successes notwithstanding, the challenges are great. The reason is that air and water pollution is global, indifferent to borders. Sweden is affected by what happens in other countries.
The report shows that the cure is in more international cooperation, new control instruments and a voluntary environmental management system where businesses set their own goals.
Richard Almgren believes that as a means to hold pollution in check, legislation is obsolete.
“To create environmental benefits, it’s more efficient to look at how businesses develop products and what the means of transport are.”
Rolf Annerberg, director-general of Formas, the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning, took the same line.
“We’ve taken national legislation as far as it can go; environmental taxes have hit the roof. What we’ve got to do now is invest in innovation,” he argued.
Many businesses are prepared to accept far-reaching measures to protect the environment but on condition that competitors on home turf as well as internationally face the same demands and costs, reasoned Elisabeth Nilsson, director general of Jernkontoret, the Swedish steel industry’s trade organisation.
According to her, complex environmental problems demand a level playing field for all companies, otherwise Swedish businesses will suffer.
“Industry has nothing to gain from a dirty environment,” added Nilsson
Future positive developments would include adapting environmental policies to current global realities, pointed out Inger Strömdahl, responsible for environmental policy at Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
“We have to learn to distinguish between national and global pictures and create goal images that lead us in the right direction. For that reason, international cooperation should be strengthened,” she said.
