Thousands in Sweden protest over climate policy as election looms

More than 10,000 people marched in Stockholm, the Swedish capital, on Sunday in a protest against human-made climate change, weeks ahead of a 13 September general election where the issue is top among Swedish voters’ concerns.

The protest comes as experts in Sweden and abroad have warned that the government’s climate policy jeopardises the country’s emissions-cutting goals, to reduce CO₂ emissions from transport by 70 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045.

Organised by youth and sporting groups, unions, rural associations and rights groups, the rally in the Swedish capital included Sweden’s most famous climate campaigner, Greta Thunberg.

“There is absolutely no party in Sweden who are even proposing politics in line with anything close to what science says will take for us to avoid a climate disaster,” Thunberg said.

“If we continue like now, we will see collapse; we are already seeing collapse,” she stressed.

Another protester, Kliff Lindberg, a 21-year-old student, said he was “relieved” to see such a strong turnout. “We are so many people who are concerned about this problem,” Lindberg said.

“That gives me a lot of strength, and it’s beautiful to see, I think.”

Since taking power in 2022, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing government has cut petrol taxes and reduced requirements for petrol suppliers to add low-carbon alternatives to their mix.

The government has notably rejected a commission’s recommendations on ways to meet the 2030 target, which included phasing out fossil fuels by hiking taxes on petrol and diesel.

Swedes will go to the polls on 13 September to elect a new parliament, with the ruling right-wing bloc trailing in opinion polls, and making a change of government likely.

According to a Verian opinion poll by the public broadcaster SVT, published on Thursday, Sweden’s centre-left opposition ‌currently holds a 10-percentage-point lead over the ruling right-wing coalition

The climate crisis is very real

37% of respondents to the poll stated that the election’s top priority was climate change.

The government has argued that the phase-out of fossil fuels must be gradual in order to preserve and strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness and its companies.

But organisers of the demonstration argue that urgent action was needed.

“The climate crisis is very real, and it is here,” said Beatrice Rindevall, head of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which is co-organising Sunday’s demonstration.

Citing the deadly heatwaves that have hit Europe this summer, Rindevall said, “It is time to put in place a climate policy that reduces emissions right now,” according to a statement.

Additional sources • AP