Baltic news
Press release
30 March 2006
Ministry of Sustainable Development
Sweden sets climate target of - 25% by 2020
The Swedish Government made a joint decision with the Left Party last week to set a medium-term climate target of -25 per cent by 2020, compared with emissions in 1990.
At the same time, the short-term target remains set at -4 per cent by 2010, to be achieved without compensation for removal by carbon sinks or recourse to flexible mechanisms. This target is considerably more ambitious than the target of +4 per cent that Sweden has been allocated within the EU.
"I am proud that Sweden is now raising its ambitions and retaining its leading role in climate work. We are reducing our national emissions while laying the foundation for a sustainable transformation of the energy system," says Minister for the Environment Lena Sommestad.
In the Bill, the Government and the Left Party write that there is no justification in energy policy or scope in climate policy for large-scale extension of the natural gas network. As society focuses on facilitating and promoting the establishment and expansion of renewable energy, the interest in an energy supply based on fossil fuels is declining.
One new feature of the Bill is the effort to develop separate indicative targets for 2015 for different sectors. The indicative targets are important to point out a way to achieve the complete target for 2020, the date when dependence on fossil fuels is to have been broken.
"Our target is that by 2010 the emissions of carbon dioxide from the transport sector will have stabilised at the 1990 level. This is an ambitious goal and to succeed we are now investing in special initiatives such as transport-saving solutions, increased energy efficiency and renewable fuels," concludes Ms Sommestad.
One of the principles of the Swedish climate strategy is that Sweden must set an example internationally. Sweden's emissions of greenhouse gases are low at present, compared with other developed countries, whether calculated per person or per unit of GDP. Since the 1970s Sweden has worked successfully to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and by doing so has limited its emissions of greenhouse gases.
Contact
Lena Berglund
Press secretary to Lena Sommestad
+46 8 405 24 14
+46 70 365 24 14
email to Lena Berglund