By Martha Moss - 26th June 2009
There is no other alternative than an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen. There is no Plan B
Andreas Carlgren
World leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December must secure a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto protocol if they are to tackle climate change, according to Sweden's environment minister.
Andreas Carlgren, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency on 1 July, told reporters on Friday that higher carbon reduction targets would benefit richer and developing economies.
"There is no other alternative than an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen," he said. "There is no Plan B."
He added that reducing greenhouse gas emissions was "in the real interest of the broad majority of developing countries in the world… in Europe's interest and… in the interests of emerging economies".
Europe's current target to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 could be increased to 30 per cent if agreement is reached at Copenhagen.
Carlgren was confident that negotiations at the Copenhagen conference would be successful and called on the EU to use its own target "as a way to keep pressure on others".
The minister said that the environmental priority for Sweden's six months at the helm of the EU would be tackling climate change.
He cited figures showing that Sweden has cut its emissions by 40 per cent since 1970 and seen 100 per cent economic growth in that time.
There has been a 10 per cent reduction in emissions on 1990 levels in Sweden, paralleled by economic growth of almost 50 per cent.
The country is now working towards a target of reducing emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990.
"I doubt there is another European country with such an ambitious target," said Carlgren.
With Sweden strongly dependent on heavy industry, he said it could provide an example of combining industrial development with emissions cuts, he added.
"Some people tend to underestimate the importance of our industry... You can really be in the front of industrial development, of economic growth, and at the same time have low carbon emissions."
Other issues on the environmental agenda for the Swedish presidency include the "eco-efficient economy", biodiversity and the Baltic Sea strategy.
Green investments, the greening of the economy and "a green recovery" is central to tackling the economic downturn, said the minister.
"That's also the strong reason why the economic crisis can't at all be a reason not to act on the climate crisis," he added.
He said he hoped a European proposal for a new global target on biodiversity would be adopted by the UN in the next year.
Sweden will also be looking to drastically improve the environment of the Baltic Sea.
Carlgren pointed out that the Baltic is "one of the most polluted seas in the world - and absurdly with some of the richest countries in the world surrounding it".
"We should use this as an example of how the EU can act on a macro-regional level to fully change the situation from a polluted into an environmental example," he said.
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