Sweden taken a major step towards meeting its targets in accordance with the Paris Agreement by legislating a new Climate Act containing a pledge to reach net zero greenhouse gad emissions by 2045.
The Act was passed on Thursday after being voted in with a majority of 254 to 41. It is due to formally enter effect on 1 January 2018.
Among the Act’s principle goals is the aim that; “By 2045, Sweden will have net zero emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and should thereafter achieve negative emissions”.
As well as setting targets, it also “specifies how work is to be carried out”, and requires the government to “present a climate report every year in its Budget Bill”.
In order to formulate this act without descending into politics, Sweden put together the Cross-Party Committee on Environmental Objectives, consisting of representatives of seven of the country’s eight major political parties. The committee will hereafter act as an “independent climate policy council that reviews climate policy”.
The targets were put forward earlier this year, with the push headed up by Isabella Lövin, who at the time insisted that there was no more room for “arbitrariness” with regard to climate policy, and that a framework enabling a “long-term” and stable approach is necessary.
Speaking now, after the act was formally voted through Sweden’s parliament, the Riksdag, Lövin said: “Today’s decision shows that Sweden will continue to be a leading country in global efforts to achieve the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement.”
She added that: “All countries need to actively demonstrate how they are taking responsibility on climate change.”
The news is being praised as an antithesis to Donald Trump’s recent decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement. Speaking to Climate Home, an environmental news agency, Gareth Redmond-King of the WWF said: “With Donald Trump planning to pull out of the Paris agreement, now more than ever do we need the rest of the world to up its game in combating climate change.
“It is an important victory, not only for Sweden, but for everyone who cares about the future of our environment.”
Lövin appeared to make her own dig at Trump earlier this year, when she posted a photo [at the top of this article] of her and an all-female group of colleagues signing the environmental bill.
