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Government slammed on environment policy

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Government slammed on environment policy
Greenpeace activists protest the decision to expand Swedish nuclear power

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) has in a new report criticised the government for having "gone backwards" in several key environmental issues, arguing that the smaller parties have had to defer to the Moderates.

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The SSNC has looked how the political parties have managed environmental policy issues during the current mandate period.

The government Alliance has been criticised for, among other things, for having opened for the exploitation of beaches, removed the ban on dekaBDE (Decabromodiphenyl ether) - a non-biodegradable chemical, cut funds for new nature reserves and given the green light for the hunting of wolves.

The smaller Alliance parties have tried to promote green issues, but have been dominated by the Moderates, the society's chairperson Mikael Karlsson and secretary-general Svante Akelsson claim in an opinion article in Dagens Nyheter on Wednesday.

The Moderates have not however been able to put a stop to all of the issues, the pair observe, pointing out that the Centre Party had defended tax relief on fertilizer.

The SSNC also criticises all of the government parties have come down in favour of extending nuclear power.

The government is however given praise for introducing the congestion charge in Stockholm and the decision to use state-owned forestry as land to exchange for the establishment of nature reserves.

The opposition parties have also been subject to the SNCC analysis and has found that it is also the smaller parties that have pushed the environmental agenda, with the Social Democrats obliged to vote more environmentally-friendly than the party had promised.

Even the Green Party did not escape criticism however, with the SSNC saying that that the party was a fair distance from having a really sound environmental policy.

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