Joint House panel turns to Sweden for advice
Posted on May 14th, 2007By Darren Samuelsohn
E&E News: The prime minister of Sweden visits Congress this week to talk energy and global warming.
Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden’s conservative prime minister, is the sole witness scheduled to testify before a joint hearing tomorrow in the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Earlier in the day, Reinfeldt meets with President Bush at the White House.
In an interview last week with the Associated Press, Reinfeldt said he would use his trip to Washington to nudge Bush on climate change. But the prime minister also said he will resist the temptation to criticize the United States.
“You can’t have the attitude of ‘let’s go slap everyone on the wrist,’” he said. “We have to listen to how the Americans want to do things.”
House Democrats invited Reinfeldt to testify as they try to craft an energy and climate change policy modelled on his country’s apparent success.
Sweden, home to more than 9 million people, stands out as one of the few countries that will meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. According to data submitted to the European Commission, Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 3.5 percent between 1990 and 2002.
For electricity production, Sweden gets half of its energy from hydropower and the rest from nuclear plants. Oil use has fallen from about 70 percent of total energy supply in 1970 down to about 30 percent today. Renewables account for 28 percent of Sweden’s energy supplies.
Swedish citizens are offered 10,000 kronor ($1,400) in cash when they buy a car that uses environmentally friendly fuels or other technology. And the country has pledged to break its dependence on fossil fuels by 2020, though Reinfeldt has pulled back a bit on the target set by the previous government.
“We may not make it by 2020, but if it happens a little later, then that’s also fine,” he told AP.
The international spotlight also turns to Sweden in 2009 when it takes over the rotating European Union presidency. On global warming, 2009 is seen as a critical year for international negotiations on a new treaty that can go into place once the Kyoto Protocol expires. The date has significance because it will be the first year after Bush leaves the White House.
Schedule: The hearing is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. tomorrow in 2172 Rayburn.
Witness: Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister of Sweden.