Guidelines on renewable energy and climate change mitigation are poorly compatible with investments in oil extraction in the Arctic, Sweden's government has decided.
As such, the state will go over the investments made by the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) with a fine-toothed comb to investigate whether the agency observes the Paris Climate Accord and doesn't lock foreign countries into using fossil fuels.
"It is now urgent that the global economy be changed so that it contributes to a sustainable development. Swedish export should be climate-oriented. As we see Swedish industry transitioning, we must not at the same time support other countries in locking into fossil endeavors," says Isabella Lövin, minister for environment and climate, in a press release.
The minister says the government is now reviewing EKN investments, and that it will present a number of proposals for new guidelines in a report by late August, which will ensure that Swedish investments abroad will help fight climate change.
This announcement comes nearly a year after a large-scale report by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) that condemned several investments made via EKN.
Specifically, the SSNC singled out investments in Saudi Arabian petrochemical plants, extraction and refining of Uzbek gas and, not least, investments in a gas facility in the Russian Arctic as highly problematic.
This post originally appeared on AM Watch.
