The leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, has repeatedly claimed that there is a self-tormenting climate policy in Sweden, with reference to the fact that we emit little greenhouse gases globally. Instead, SD wants Sweden to follow the EU in climate policy.
The Green Party, for its part, thinks that Sweden, as a rich western country, has a special responsibility and believes that there are opportunities in climate policy, that you can both fight the climate threat and at the same time create thousands of new green jobs.
On Thursday evening, the parties clashed in a debate about the climate.
– All the new reforms the government is making increase emissions in Sweden. It is a scandal and the reason why Sweden has now gone from being a pusher to being a brake block in Egypt, says Per Bolund, spokesman for the MP.
– Per Bolund takes it so he cracks. We do not deny science but we are politicians, we must try to make well-balanced decisions. I think we are delivering the second largest environmental budget ever in Sweden, says Martin Kinnunen, climate policy spokesperson for SD.
See the full debate in the player above.