Natural vs. synthetic graphite, page-96

Recently, several environmental permit processes have received a great deal of attention. On Gotland it is a question of the production or absence of cement production and in Kiruna it is about expanded LKAB mining operations. Common to both of these cases is that government decisions that are mainly based on local environmental interests risk having major economic consequences for Sweden.

Both the present Cementa, LKAB Kiruna and hydropower conflicts are based on one and the same problem. Namely that the Swedish Environmental Code does not take into account i.e. climate aspects but unilaterally focuses on local environmental challenges. With today's environmental code as a guiding light, Swedish authorities will constantly make decisions that unilaterally promote local environmental benefits at the expense of increased global climate emissions. The solution is, of course, to include the climate aspect in the Environmental Code, which would make it possible to make reasonable trade-offs with other societal interests, such as biodiversity. This is exactly what is now being proposed by the Climate Law Inquiry in an interim report. In the face of the growing climate crisis, such a change is urgent!

Kind regards,​