Government investigator John Hassler wants the Swedish climate targets to be updated “so that they are based on the target structure used within the EU’s regulatory framework”. At a press conference, he explained that “it is important that the Swedish climate goals rhyme with the EU’s”. Mathias Fridahl, researcher in climate policy at Linköping University, interprets the proposal as Sweden may lower the level of ambition in climate policy. “Very funny” – If my calculation is correct, Hassler suggests that we should lower the ambition levels in the Swedish climate work, that it is enough with the EU’s ambition level, what the EU has set as goals for Sweden and the commitments we have in the EU system to deal with the climate crisis, says Fridahl and continues. – In a context where we need to scrape together everything we can find to be able to keep the Paris Agreement’s temperature target within reach, it is very funny to make a proposal that actually reduces the level of ambition in one of the world’s richest countries. Mathias Fridahl also highlights proposals from the investigation which he thinks are positive, including the idea of introducing a system for the trading of emissions rights within Sweden. It’s actually an exciting idea to set up a trading system to control above all emissions from the transport sector and possibly agriculture, says Fridahl. “The rate must increase” Naghmeh Nasiritousi, researcher in climate policy at Uppsala University and the Institute for Foreign Policy, does not think that the investigation points to increased ambitions for Swedish climate policy. She believes that it is good to review the national climate goals in order for them to interact with the EU’s goals, but believes that the stated purpose must then be to raise ambitions. – Sweden is already not living up to the Paris Agreement’s requirements for emission reductions, and the pace must increase both to live up to the Paris Agreement, the EU’s requirements and what science shows, says Nasiritousi. At the same time, she thinks it is good that the investigation points out that Sweden should continue to have national goals and that they should not be replaced by the EU’s: – The research clearly shows that national goals are needed to point out the direction and not create chaos in politics, says Nasiritusi. “Is the answer guilty” Björn-Ola Linnér, professor of international climate policy at Linköping University, thinks there is some ambiguity, and particularly highlights the proposal to replace the current transport target with an electrification target. – If we replace the current transport target with an electrification target, how do we ensure that the current vehicle fleet, which is full of fossil fueled cars that continue to emit, does not make it more difficult to reach the climate targets in the future?
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