Response to interpellation 2022/23:280 on the green transition
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the green transition and Swedish competitiveness. KD argues that the government strengthens competitiveness and creates jobs through an ambitious climate policy towards net-zero emissions by 2045 1. KD emphasizes that the new Ministry of Climate and Enterprise accelerates the transition 1. KD claims that they are improving the conditions for fossil-free electricity production and have stopped the "reverse Robin Hood policy" 2. KD argues that wind power and nuclear power are needed together 2. KD wants to combine predictable and weather-dependent power production 3, shorten permit processes for wind power 3, and develop a realistic roadmap for new nuclear power 3. KD wants to cooperate with S to vote for 100 percent emission-free power production 4. S argues that Sweden needs to invest in the green transition 5. S wants to take responsibility for jobs and climate 5. S considers that the government lacks climate and industrial policy 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro has asked me what the government is doing to ensure that the business sector's green investments continue to be placed in Sweden, and what I intend to do within the framework of my preparatory area to create long-term conditions for the green transition.
I want to begin by outlining the government's starting points in this work. The goal of the industrial policy is to strengthen Swedish competitiveness and create conditions for more jobs and growing companies. The government's climate policy work shall be based on the Riksdag's climate goals. In accordance with the long-term goal, Sweden shall have net-zero emissions by 2045 at the latest. Beyond 2045, emissions shall be net-negative. Sweden has a strong industry that contributes to solutions for green transition and to us reaching our goals. This creates jobs throughout the country and strengthens the conditions for Swedish business to also succeed in global markets.
Business, energy, climate, and environmental issues are closely linked. As the Prime Minister said in the Government Bill, we see Swedish business as a greenhouse for prosperity and innovation and now also as an important environmental movement – world-leading in sustainability and green transition. It is against this background that the government chose to create the new Ministry of Climate and Business, where business, climate, and energy issues have been gathered in one and the same so-called super-ministry. The new ministry clearly shows the government's ambition and that the issues are closely interconnected. The government is ready to take measures so that the climate transition can be carried out in an efficient manner.
We have also said that the government will be an offensive partner in the work. Sweden's climate and environmental policy shall be ambitious and effective. Swedish competitiveness shall be protected. Our common climate and environmental policy is based on the stewardship concept and strives to find the most cost-effective measures, which at the same time do not harm industries and the countryside. Based on Sweden's emissions in relation to the rest of the world, it is also important to have a global perspective.
As an example, I want to mention that northern Sweden has golden opportunities to lead the new industrial revolution and become an engine for green innovations that can benefit northernmost Sweden, the whole country, and in the long run, all of Europe. The northern regions' assets of rivers, ore, and forest are the basis for the transition that creates jobs and competitiveness and strengthens the conditions for a good life for the people who live and work here. With a newly established department that links climate, energy, and business, the government will accelerate the green transition. This means, among other things, that the government will develop a strategy for northern Sweden. The strategy will be holistically long-term and promote the green re-industrialization.
The Government's view is that the business sector's competitiveness is best benefited by equal rules of the game within the common market. It is also important that we act nationally so that the business sector's green investments shall be viable and sustainable, contribute to the climate transition, and create an enhanced supply capacity and reduced vulnerability in society.
The Government's realignment of climate policy aims to create the conditions to have net-zero emissions by 2045 at the latest, while simultaneously strengthening Swedish competitiveness. Good access to fossil-free energy is an important prerequisite. The Government will therefore develop and implement concrete political proposals that solve Sweden's most important societal problems by re-establishing a functioning electricity system with increased electricity production and low electricity prices, as well as enabling an effective climate transition.
Conditions for planned fossil-free power sources shall be improved to increase the production of fossil-free electricity. Households shall receive reasonable and predictable electricity prices. Companies shall grow and hire more people. Within climate policy, conditions shall be improved so that industry and transport can be converted and thereby contribute to Sweden's effective climate transition. This is achieved, among other things, through an efficiency of instruments and support, investments in new technology, and fewer administrative hurdles. Increased electricity production in Sweden enables industries that transition from fossil energy to fossil-free electricity to be established in Sweden, which creates more jobs, increases growth, strengthens welfare, and reduces global emissions.
The government is now restructuring energy, business, and climate policy. Our policy will strengthen the willingness to invest in Sweden, not least regarding new technology and fossil-free energy.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Madam Speaker! Ebba Busch explains that the green transition is one of the priority areas for this government. It is welcome that the government sees the challenges with competitiveness, jobs, and the climate and wants to tackle them. In the response to my interpellation, the Minister for Energy and Enterprise argues that business, energy, climate, and environmental issues are closely linked and that the government will be an offensive partner in the transition. But the only concrete thing the Minister can point to is that the government has started the new super-ministry. Content-wise, it is unclear what it entails.
The business community has realized that the future is green, and now politics needs to deliver important decisions to provide the conditions for that transition. While the rest of the EU and USA are doing everything to accelerate into the green market, we in Sweden have already done a large part of that work. Swedish companies are world leaders in green technology, and that has created fantastic opportunities for Sweden. Jobs, quality, and strengthened competitiveness are some of the positive factors that come with the green transition. An active industrial policy from previous S-led governments has yielded results in the form of 400,000 new jobs in Sweden and that Sweden's GDP is projected to increase by 520 billion kronor.
It is positive that the government wants to invest in the green transition and continue on the path already taken. But what does that mean?
Madam Speaker! The criticism that the government has received from the Climate Policy Council cannot have escaped the Minister. It is stated there that government decisions in various areas contribute to increasing Sweden's emissions, which affects the image of Sweden as a climate nation. If the government does not deliver important reforms in the near term regarding shorter permit processes for wind power and other promoting measures for the transition, we risk losing important investments.
It cannot come as any surprise to the Minister that the business community and we in the opposition are concerned about the green transition when, for example, the Sweden Democrats have expressed skepticism towards individual projects within the green market and made statements that are critical of certain types of power generation.
That is why we stand here in the chamber today. The Minister can account for the government's policies and ambitions. But what does it actually mean? What does it mean when the government does not have with it those who actually govern the government? The Sverigedemokraterna's move, combined with the government's policy, where environmental and climate policy is sidelined in favor of proposals stemming from climate skepticism, means that Sweden's transition is threatened. That is because it cannot be carried out without an active government that creates conditions for jobs and growth. The transition cannot be made if the government does not have a genuine commitment to strengthening Swedish competitiveness and, together with other EU countries, ensuring that we are part of the solution in the crisis we find ourselves in.
But in the current situation, it is difficult to see what the government wants with the green transition. In the response to my interpellation, there were a number of ambitions but nothing concrete. The concrete thing we have is that the Climate Policy Council states that for the first time in 20 years, political decisions contribute to increasing emissions in Sweden. The other concrete thing we have is that the government is led by the Sweden Democrats, who do not want any transition.
I ask again: What is the government doing to ensure that the business sector's green investments continue to be placed in Sweden, and what does Minister Ebba Busch intend to do within the framework of her area of responsibility to create long-term conditions for the green transition?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! This government is doing what is required to strengthen the business sector and Sweden's competitiveness while we reach the climate goal for 2045. Fossil-free status and competitiveness go hand in hand.
Sweden has in many ways truly succeeded in answering this so-called million dollar question: Is it possible to have a strong welfare state and economic growth while simultaneously taking the climate issue seriously and while leading the green transition? The answer is yes.
I would like to give credit to the previous government and the Social Democrats because we meet in many of these ambitions and meet in the overall objective. It is a strength for Sweden that there are so few political contradictions regarding precisely the view on the climate threat and the view that Sweden should continue to be a leader in climate issues. We have a great competitive advantage here.
Where we differ - that was also the reason why the Swedish people gave us, the four coalition parties, the confidence to try to increase the pace here - is when it comes to the prerequisites for the green transition.
I would say that in the long term we are improving the conditions to manage the equation concerning strong welfare, more job opportunities, high climate ambitions and green transition, because we see and understand the issue of energy policy.
We see and understand that our country is beautiful but very elongated. For many years, we have seen the reverse Robin Hood policy, where a very large part of the Swedish energy supply strategy was put in place that involved snatching the relatively cheap emission-free electricity from northern Sweden and giving it to southern Sweden - this in order to compensate for having pursued a policy that resulted in prematurely shutting down four nuclear reactors and stopping the planning of two new ones. It is a difference of six nuclear reactors. 3,000 megawatts of dispatchable electricity disappeared.
Much of the competitiveness and the conditions for the green transition were based on taking the emission-free electricity from northern Sweden and giving it to southern Sweden. The reverse Robin Hood policy - which I believe the Social Democrats and the Green Party stood for in a government position, Madam Speaker - we have now put a stop to.
Now all good forces are welcomed. Now we will pave the way for all power production. We will also ensure that we get a robust energy system where we talk about which capabilities are needed in the system. Does one want more wind power? Then it is simply a matter of the laws of physics. It means that we then also must have more of predictable power production. If one is a wind power supporter, one should therefore also be a nuclear power supporter. And if one is a business supporter, one should also be a wind power supporter. We shall pave the way for all good forces.
That is what we are trying to do. It is not the department itself that is interesting, but it is about trying to bridge the conflict of objectives, which S and MP never managed to do in a government position. It concerns the conflict of objectives that exists between climate and environment and which sometimes exists between industry and energy. We are now merging them, and we look forward to moving forward with several of the investigations that we are currently processing or have initiated to pave the way for more power production in Sweden. It is an important prerequisite for competitiveness, green transition, and welfare.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Madam Speaker! I agree that we meet in our ambitions in this chamber. The problem seems to be that you do not do so in the Government Offices.
I understand that the Minister is beating his chest for the government's policy, but the problem is that no one else is doing so. The business community, the unions, and the Climate Policy Council are just a few of those who also do not see the benefit of the policy currently being pursued and who are quite concerned about the future. It is not actually that strange.
It began with an election campaign where the only thing the government base had in common was that they wanted to remove the Social Democrats from power. They simply lacked a political direction. Climate skepticism and some form of culture war against wind power were perhaps the closest thing to a direction that they came to.
I choose to quote Ebba Busch in the election campaign: Say no to the forests of steel of wind turbines that are forced upon the Swedes and which destroy our nature.
The Moderates campaigned throughout Skåne against wind power. The Sweden Democrats' party leader Jimmie Åkesson added by saying: Our need for wind power electricity is not so great today. And then he added: There is no reason to hurry new wind power.
A wind power supporter also needs to be a nuclear power supporter, but the question is whether the government thinks a nuclear power supporter also needs to be a wind power supporter. Perhaps the Minister needs to reflect on that.
It was good that reality set in when Minister Ebba Busch installed herself in the Government Offices and that the Minister suddenly became positive towards wind turbines and became stressed that the government was perceived as critical of wind power. But is that strange?
I believe I speak for all of Sweden when I say that it was positive that reality came and haunted the Government Offices. But it is one ghost that wanders around there: the Sweden Democrats.
I quote Oscar Sjöstedt from Sverigedemokraterna: Now we are in the driver's seat. So it concerned Sverigedemokraterna. In the same interview, Oscar Sjöstedt explains that he actually wants to remove all wind power.
Somewhere here, a big question mark arises regarding the government's attitude towards the green transition. An important prerequisite for carrying out the green transition is that wind power is expanded quickly. Will it happen – yes or no?
In the USA, the Biden administration has decided to invest nearly 369 billion dollars in the green transition. The Indian state has formed green funds to promote green investments in the country. The EU is preparing with a green industrial plan, as part of the Fit for 55 work and to strengthen the EU's competitiveness and ensure that green investments end up in the EU.
The whole world realizes that the future is green. And we need to invest our way out of this crisis together. I think everyone understands that – except for those who run the government, namely the Sverigedemokraterna.
We Social Democrats are ready to take responsibility for jobs and the climate. The question is whether the government is. Obviously, the government does not have a coalition partner who cares about the image of Sweden or Swedish competitiveness. They only care about polarizing to gain power. But our door is open. We need to solve this crisis together and provide the business sector with long-term conditions that they can base their investments on.
Ebba Busch is welcome to answer whether she is ready, together with the other parties in this chamber, to meet the business community and ensure that we make Sweden a world-leading green nation, or if she would rather remain in the lap of climate-denying Sverigedemokrater.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! The Social Democrats lost power and the trust of the Swedish people after eight years and have still not managed to settle into the role of opposition and develop new policy to meet Sweden's problems and adjust the policy that obviously led to record-long healthcare queues with 163,000 patients who waited illegally long to receive the care they needed, which led to municipality after municipality being forced to say no to corporate investments because there simply was not enough bandwidth in the power grids for them to be able to establish themselves there, and which led to a record in Europe in deadly gun violence.
When one has failed to find new policies to meet and change the policies that led to this result after eight years in power, I understand that one is still clinging to waving the SD-banner. But it doesn't work anymore. The Sweden Democrats are involved and taking responsibility for cleaning up the mess that the Social Democrats and the Green Party caused.
Instead of standing and waving those types of chops, I would rather get to the actual policy. What about what the government is driving is a problem for Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro? Individual statements are pointed out, but look at the Tidö Agreement. I perceive that the Social Democrats can now imagine supporting that policy in all substantial matters regarding energy issues, and that is what our four coalition parties agree on.
Regarding my statements concerning steel forests, I still think that one should say no to steel forests. It is an incredibly bad idea! If one believes that it is possible to meet a corresponding doubled electricity demand, i.e., approximately 300 terawatt-hours - probably a conservative estimate - by 2045 primarily with weather-dependent energy sources, yes, then you will put Sweden in an incredibly tough situation regarding job creation and conditions for green transition.
We are, as said, a large and elongated country that requires both predictable and weather-dependent power production. The previous government, Madam Speaker, leaned far too heavily on the weather-dependent, and it doesn't matter how much one believes in Olof Palme's words that politics is about will: here, it is not possible to override the laws of physics. It is simply a matter of the difference between asynchronous and synchronous power types. When you remove as much predictable power production as was done during the previous government's time, yes, then you get problems, and that is why we are changing that policy.
Speaking of reality playing tricks, and I always welcome reality, I meet the business community, representatives who stand guard over Swedish workers' jobs and parents who wonder, perhaps for the first time, if their children will have a better and brighter future in Sweden than their own one day. Everyone welcomes that we are shifting the policy, becoming more realistic, and say that all good forces are needed.
Let us shorten the permit processes for new wind power, but let us also ensure that we develop a realistic roadmap for new nuclear power in Sweden. It is crucial for the green transition and crucial for us to reach the climate goals 2045.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Madam Speaker! It is not because this government is so in agreement that the CEO of Svenskt Näringsliv felt a need to write a debate article yesterday in Dagens industri about that we should stop the culture war being waged by the government's coalition partners and no one else.
The situation is acute, and we cannot have four lost years to favor Ebba Busch's government base. We take the reports from the IPCC and the Climate Policy Council most seriously, and it is urgent now. The government needs to take responsibility for the situation. Right now, the government is watching while Sweden is sidelined in the matter of the green transition. They have taken off the captain's jersey and instead put on a straitjacket fastened by the Sverigedemokraterna.
What I am trying to say is that we are several parties here in the chamber who agree that we need to carry out this transition, but obviously that is not the largest party in the government support. The business community needs to know whether wind power is to be built or not. The Swedish people want to know if the government intends to tackle the green transition and be part of the solution or if it intends to be the brake. Will the jobs of the future be in Sweden, or will Swedish workers have to see their jobs move abroad?
Right now, the government has no answers regarding a single one of these clouds of concern. They chose to go out offensively in the election campaign and contribute to a suspicion towards the transition, and now they are being ruled by the Sverigedemokraterna, who seem to continue this absurd culture war. Every single initiative that the government has presented, the Sverigedemokraterna have been against. Take, for example, Klimatklivet, which is now being presented as a major climate initiative but which in the napkin-sketch budget of 2018 was completely scrapped by the Moderaterna and Kristdemokraterna. The government has no climate policy, and they have no industrial policy. Every single initiative is Social Democratic initiatives that they are now fighting to take the credit for.
It is good that the government realizes that the Social Democrats have good policies, but then perhaps the government should stop listening to the climate deniers in the Sweden Democrats and instead shake hands with us to secure green investments in Sweden.
If Reinfeldt's words about an industry that is "basically gone" are not to become reality, the government must act and increase the pace of the transition. The business community does not need Ebba Busch's goodwill or ambitions – what is needed is the government's decisiveness!
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I think the member is tying his own argument into a bit of a knot, even if it is stylish, which sometimes has a value in itself. When the measures are listed here, for example, the reinforcement of Klimatklivet and the substantial reinforcement of Industriklivet with 600 million kronor, it does emerge that there are quite a few concrete measures. Furthermore, the member argues that they are good.
Therefore, I would still say that this interpellation debate lands in me wanting the Social Democrats to spend less time reflecting on individual SD members' provocations and more time on Sweden's best interests. I gladly accept the extended hand regarding cooperation on these issues, because I truly believe that we could then increase the pace even further.
As has been said, there are many common points of contact regarding Industriklivet, regarding Klimatklivet, and regarding the simplification measures that we want to make concerning the permit processes. Perhaps we can also once and for all put an end to the question of nuclear power or wind power – it is both, and that is what my statements have concerned previously. It is the line that the government rests on and that four coalition parties agree on.
It is an ambitious and effective climate policy, and I am happy to join forces with more policy measures to pave the way for it. Such an important step will be the opportunity to vote for 100 percent emission-free and fossil-free power production this autumn.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.