When it comes to environmental and climate issues the current right-wing government in Sweden is one of the worst ever. And that is not just my own words! According to the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), an environmental organization formed in 1909 with over 180 000 members, the Swedish governments environmental policies have been a failure.

"We have investigated Swedish governments environmental policies since the 80s. This is one of the worst we have seen. Previous governments have slowly made progress. But it’s rare for a government to make so many backward steps that this current government has made", the secretary general of SSNC said [my translation].

SSNC complains that in some areas the Swedish government has failed to implement sufficient, if any, environmental laws and regulations. SSNC also do acknowledge that the current Government have implemented several good environmental policies, such as a ban on phosphates in detergents which is expected to reduce Sweden’s phosphorus discharges into the oceans by 50 tons per year. But the problem is that these good policies have been knocked back by other contradictive anti-environment decisions. One of these decisions is the removal of the tax on fertilizers which will, according to experts, result in a loss of control over several toxic substances and will cause leakage of nitrogen into the ocean.

A general election will be held in Sweden this September. If you are eligible to vote, and the environment is one of your main concerns then clearly you can’t vote for the ones currently in power.

Also read: The Swedish government completes its climate wrecking track record with a pro-nuclear vote