Published: Just now
Romina Pourmokhtari is the best in Sweden at conducting climate and environmental policy.
In any case, the Minister of the Environment believes so himself:
– I am the person who can best push through an ambitious climate and environmental policy.
In connection with a press meeting about Sweden’s priorities before the UN climate conference in Egypt, the new liberal climate and environment minister gave his first interview to Aftonbladet after taking office.
The government’s proposal for reduced tax on petrol and diesel is criticised. “It goes against the grain of the climate goals”, states climate scientist Mikael Karlsson. What do you say about that?
– I think this is proof of how vulnerable climate policy has been in Sweden. That a change in the reduction obligation, which is adapted to a tough economic situation and to the reality people face in Sweden, has such a big effect on climate policy. We need to build a more robust climate policy. And I hope this government will be able to do that. This is also what we see clear examples of in Tidö agreements and government declarations. How we can build a climate policy that actually works.
There has also been a lot of criticism regarding the closure of the Ministry of the Environment. Is the closure a problem?
– It is not a ministry that is being shut down, but we are collecting…
It falls under the Ministry of Industry.
– We are bringing the ministries together. We will start the first climate ministry, it could just as well have been news that we will have a climate and business ministry. There are no lowered levels of ambition either in the climate or environmental area for this government.
Climate researcher Mikael Karlsson thinks that Sweden “risks becoming as bad on climate as Poland and Hungary on human rights”. What do you say about that?
– He doesn’t have to worry about that.
Why not?
– Because the climate policy we will pursue will be ambitious. When I sit and work, I certainly do not think as a Hungarian or Polish minister does, but as a Swedish minister does in a liberal bourgeois government. The policy we pursue adapts to the climate political reality we are facing.
Mikael Karlsson thinks that Sweden is embarrassing itself internationally, not least considering that Sweden is the EU chairman when the biggest climate proposal in the organization’s history is to be considered. He asks a rhetorical question: “Would you have wanted Orbán to lead a meeting on human rights?” What do you answer to that?
– I’m not Orbán, I’m a liberal. I am part of a liberal bourgeois government. We do not deny the climate crisis, we are working hard on how to achieve the ambitious climate policy goals we are facing. So I think it’s a very interesting hypothetical question that has absolutely nothing to do with reality.
The government and SD also intend to raise VAT on repairs to bicycles, shoes and clothing. The Green Party’s spokesperson Per Bolund notes that “the most important thing for the government when the world is in a climate crisis … is to make it more expensive for small businesses that repair our stuff.” Why should climate-friendly recycling of gadgets become more expensive?
– This government still wants to contribute to a circular economy, but the way there does not necessarily have to go through VAT regulations, but there are a lot of ways to build a circular economy. So I don’t think you should focus on the things you change, but instead you can focus on the fact that this country still has a government that will pursue an ambitious climate and environmental policy. There are no ambitions that are lowered. It is the “how” that has changed, not the “that” – that we must achieve, that still remains.
Why was it right to appoint you as environment minister, when you have no in-depth knowledge in the field?
– I have a great commitment to climate and environmental issues and I think that everyone who has met me or knows me knows that I do. In the election campaign, the climate was one of the most important issues that I pushed, and I pushed the issue very clearly in my campaign to enter Sweden’s Riksdag. I also belong to a generation that realizes the seriousness of these issues, and I am the person who can best push through an ambitious climate and environmental policy. I am glad that both my party leader and the Prime Minister see the possibilities in it. There is a whole department and state secretaries and a lot of people around me who have deep expertise, who are PhDs in nuclear physics. And my Secretary of State, for example, has written one of the reports on which the IPCC bases its report. So there is no lack of competence here, on the contrary, you have a minister who intends to carry out this ambitious climate and environmental policy. And I am proud to have been commissioned to do that. Thanks.