A climate action plan for businesses instead of people

Today, December 21, 2024, the Swedish government has launched its climate action plan that will show how Sweden will achieve the national and global climate goals and Sweden's climate commitments to the EU. Oxfam Sweden notes that the plan fails to respond to people's needs in order to transform our society. Instead, the government focuses on the business sector's conditions for transition. The climate action plan is incomplete and contributes to Sweden losing confidence as a climate nation.

The government lacks understanding of the urgency and speed needed to reduce emissions already from next year, and not decades ahead as their hopeful calculations show. The Climate Action Plan largely confirms what we have already committed to do in the EU and describes that the government will "analyze" more which means delayed action. A successful Swedish climate policy must balance immediate and comprehensive emission reductions with redistributive policies that reduce inequalities.

- Sweden, as a rich country with high historical emissions and a high capacity to adapt, has a great responsibility to rapidly reduce its emissions, which is also stated in the agreement from the COP28 climate summit. Despite this, the government today could not give any clear announcements on when emissions will start to decrease in the near future, but continues to let citizens and the world down in a very serious situation. It is not acceptable that the government does not live up to this obligation in its climate action plan," said Astrid Nilsson Lewis, climate researcher at Oxfam Sweden.

The government will appoint an inquiry into policy instruments that will, among other things, ensure that all social groups have equal opportunities in the transition. Oxfam Sweden expects the government to use the following three components for an equal transition:

- A radical increase in equality - especially economic equality
- A rapid and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels
- A new economic model for humanity and planetary well-being

In 2019, the richest 1% of Swedes emitted a staggering 42 tons per person, almost 10 times more than people in the lowest 50% of income groups. Those with the lowest income also have the lowest capacity to adapt and eventually deal with the consequences of climate change. This must be taken into account when policies set the rules of the game and guarantee an equal, fair and thus successful climate transition.

The government's climate action plan risks widening the existing gaps in Sweden, and contributing to further polarization of the climate issue. In the long run, everyone is disadvantaged by this climate policy, especially those who are already the most vulnerable. In Oxfam Sweden's latest report Sweden's path to an equitable and just climate transition, we provide suggestions on what the Swedish government needs to do.

- There are many important measures missing from the climate action plan. For starters, Sweden should introduce a special tax on the very richest to both reduce their consumption and thus emissions, and to generate tax revenues that can be used to finance an equitable climate transition," says Astrid Nilsson Lewis.

Such taxation is actually something that will help people rather than temporary compensatory measures for households. The climate action plan also needs to include better support for people in the Global South who are most affected.