Mikael Karlsson, scientific advisor at 2050, reflects on the atmosphere within businesses and politics regarding climate issues in a 2050 Highlights. He observes a shared understanding that calls for action from citizens, companies and other organisations.
Engaged and intense, but friendly and respectful. So are the conversations about climate policy that I hear unfolding, when partner organisations in the Fairtrans research programme gather for dialogue this May. There is broad agreement on the need for reform – trade unions, environmental organisations and other civil society actors are jointly elaborating on a series of climate policy tools. A new scientific study shows that several industry and employer organisations also share much of both problems diagnosis and solution proposals.
In the world where representatives of thousands of companies and millions of citizens operate, there is thus a clear shared understanding of both sides of the climate coin. One side highlights the seriousness — the World Meteorological Organization has just reported a series of new world records for climate-related disasters. The other side shows that solutions and a more ambitious climate policy are compatible with other societal priorities. This is evident in new reports from both the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change and the Swedish Climate Policy Council.
In this world, there is also a strong, science-based, insight that Swedes call for more ambitious climate policy, not the opposite. The Swedish Parliament repeatedly recognised this during previous parliamentary terms, when seven political parties agreed on both the overarching climate policy framework and concrete policy tools — for example, improved rules for climate adapted travel deductions. At the same time, Ursula von der Leyen launched the European Green Deal, and Joseph Biden tackled inflation with massive climate investments in the US.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I am not aware of any studies suggesting that these strategies have, on the whole, been harmful to the climate, to businesses, or to citizens in Sweden, the EU or the US — that they have reduced employment or competitiveness, or undermined rural communities, livelihoods, or welfare. Of course, as with any political reform, there were early problems and transitional challenges, but was there anything that could not have been governed in a responsible manner?
And yet, an entirely different world has been created in politics — one with Orwellian overtones. War is peace, and ignorance is strength. Or in climate policy terms: increasing emissions is decreasing emissions, mega-subsidies are technological neutrality. Ans in present days, the disinformation champions are no longer confined to trolls in asocial forums; they are present in political chambers, and not just the White House.
In the Tidö agreement world, emissions are now rising faster than they have in a long time — as a result of deliberate policy. Thanks to earlier policies, per capita emissions in Sweden are comparatively low within the EU, but the present trend gives Sweden a bottom ranking. Please raise your hand, if you believe it is good for the climate or the economy that Sweden shifts from being an innovative frontrunner to a laggard.
In the US, the downward climate policy trajectory is steeper — but it is a difference of degree, not of kind. Sweden’s climate policy bottleneck party applauds the multiple missteps today in the USA. The Swedish government’s instinct is then to bend its neck, something no spin doctor can conceal. Sweden’s largest party does the opposite, by trying to silence the climate issue, as though the political world were separate from the real one.
I believe both extremes are doomed to fail, in both Sweden and the EU. The climate crisis is becoming increasingly evident, solutions are becoming ever cheaper and more effective, and voters are calling for a stronger climate policy.
In that first and real world, there is a strong consensus in Sweden — within civil society and the business community — that a climate transformation is necessary, but also creates great opportunities.
That is why the climate issue continues to be actively discussed in many forums outside the political world. This is also true when I listen to the Swedish companies preparing to attend the UN climate COP meeting in Brazil later this year. The conversations sound friendly and respectful — but above all, engaged and intense.
