If the EU Commission judges that the plan violates EU legislation, Sweden risks fines.
– The government’s actions are illegal, We are in a burning planetary crisis, in that situation Sweden fails to live up to a single one of the EU’s goals, says Ida Edling at Miljöjuristerna.
The organization has previously, within the youth organization Aurora, been involved in suing the state for insufficient climate policy in a case that can now be taken up in the Supreme Court.
Missing four goals
This is what the criticism is based on: Too large emissions, too low a share of renewable energy, too little absorption of carbon dioxide in the forest. According to the government own plan for energy and climate Sweden will violate most important points in the EU’s climate legislation until 2030.
It is about four main points:
Swedish forests and land must increase the absorption of carbon dioxide by 8 million tonnes by 2030. This requires reduced felling of forests. That is not something the government is counting on. In the letter, it is calculated that the CO2 uptake from the forest will be between 7 and 19 million tonnes per year lower than the EU’s requirements.For emissions from transport and the sector not covered by emissions trading, Sweden has so far met the EU’s targets by a margin. But this year, emissions are increasing significantly due to reduced reduction obligations. Sweden is now expected to release more than the EU’s requirements until 2030, when the target is missed by four million tonnes.Share of renewable energy. Here, Sweden is already perhaps the best in the class, but the EU wants all countries to also increase their share by 2030. There are no binding targets here, but Sweden cannot meet the level formulated by the EU.Energy efficiency improvement. Sweden looks set to miss the target by 2030 significantly. But the government thinks the EU should take more into account that Sweden needs a lot of new energy for green investments.Several countries are notified
Sweden is one of five countries that are today reported to the EU Commission for having too weak a climate policy to reach the EU’s goals. Germany, Ireland, France, and Italy are also notified by local environmental organizations. Many countries have not yet submitted a plan to the EU.
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