Stockholm – Sweden’s EU Minister Jessica Rosencrantz is negotiating in Brazilian Belém, strengthened by the EU’s agreement to cut emissions by 90 percent by 2040.
“This gives a credible and strong voice in the negotiations that are now coming,” she says on site at the high-level meeting ahead of the UN climate conference COP30.
Her approach is that there should be better follow-up on the climate plans that each member state submits every five years according to the Paris Agreement.
Now it is important for Sweden and Europe that the plans are not hidden in a drawer, according to Rosencrantz, but that they are actually implemented. But not everyone agrees.
“There are interests from other countries to rather hold back,” says Rosencrantz.
This makes it difficult to reach an agreement on the issue over the next two weeks. Rosencrantz expresses some skepticism.
“I think it could be genuinely difficult. It is an uphill battle as countries are incredibly far apart from each other.”
Sweden has no minister present during the meeting itself. Rosencrantz believes it is important for her to be there now, and she thinks Sweden has a “strong and strategic presence” even without her or another ministerial colleague over the next two weeks.
“Sweden’s presence is of course important, but it is the EU collectively that is negotiating on site. And that is also important to carry with you,” she says.
(November 7)
