Works better than many people think

The green transition is going better than many Swedes think. This is shown by a new survey from Fossilfritt Sweden.

– The Swedes have more knowledge about the problems facing the planet than the possibilities to solve them. It’s going better than many people think, says Svante Axelsson, national coordinator.

The EU’s emissions of greenhouse gases are increasing. At least three out of four Swedes who were asked in a Novus survey commissioned by Fossilfritt Sweden think so. In fact, territorial emissions have decreased by 30 percent between 1990 and 2021.

Fossil-free Sweden’s national coordinator Svante Axelsson believes that there is a risk of people losing faith in the future.

– I am very worried that people’s hopelessness will increase and then we will lose the power in the whole transition.

Fossil-free Sweden wants to highlight the successes that are being made and reduce the knowledge gap. If people get to know that things are going in the right direction, and that there are opportunities, the pace can be increased – because then politics will also dare to raise their ambitions, says Axelsson.

– The planet is feeling extremely bad. We have a very serious situation, it has never been this bad on earth. If people give up, we will not bring about the change that is really needed and possible.

Industry impatient

Emissions continue to increase globally. Nine out of ten Swedes believe that the international energy agency IEA predicts that global emissions from fossil fuels will only begin to decrease after 2035. In reality, the IEA believes that this will happen no later than 2025.

Ten years ago, the industries were a brake block, according to Axelsson. But now business wants to move forward faster than politics and they are very impatient.

– The industry says “we can and we want”, but that better conditions must be created. They are losing competitiveness and want to invest in fossil-free technology. They think it’s too slow.

The technology is here

There are all the conditions for the changeover, says Axelsson. Now, for example, batteries for electric cars and solar and wind power are much cheaper than before. Despite that, the survey shows that the Swedes think it costs the shirt

The price of batteries for electric cars, for example, has plummeted by 90 percent since 2010. And while eight out of ten in the survey believe that every fourth or every second bus in public transport runs fossil-free, it is in fact 95 percent of the buses that do.

Having said this, Fossilfritt Sweden certainly does not want to signal that it is possible to take it easy.

– Because it looks very tough, we don’t have many years left. We want to create courage and strength, now we have to increase the pace, says Axelsson.

FACT Fossil-free Sweden

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