<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/20/swedish-government-criticised-curbing-green-policies-budget>
"Sweden’s government has come under criticism after unveiling a budget that
will dramatically increase carbon emissions.
The budget, unveiled on Wednesday morning, includes a 259m krona (£19m)
reduction in funding for climate and environmental measures next year, and tax
cuts on petrol and diesel.
It is estimated that emissions will increase by 5.9m-9.8m tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalents by 2030 as a result of decisions made by the government
between 1 July 2022 and 1 July 2023.
Long term, emissions are predicted to decrease by 1.8m tonnes by 2045, but
Sweden is expected to miss its transport targets for 2030.
Mattias Goldmann, Sweden’s 2030 secretariat, said: “It’s a gasoline-soaked
budget fuse.”
He told the Dagens Nyheter that while there were some good developments, these
“cannot compensate for the powerful reduction of the tax on fossil fuels and
the reduction of the reduction obligation which works to achieve the goal of a
fossil-free vehicle fleet by the year 2030”.
The tax cut on petrol and diesel is predicted to increase emissions by up to
half a billion tonnes and could delay the transition to electric vehicles.
The Green party spokesperson, Per Bolund, said: “This government neither
understands nor cares about the climate crisis. The research is clear, we must
reduce emissions every year. Now the government is heading in the wrong
direction and says themselves that they will increase emissions greatly and
that they will not reach the targets either according to Swedish law or
according to the EU’s requirements. This is as far from a fair transition as
you can get.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
