Do we have time for a careful hydrogen strategy, Vätgas Sverige wonders and captures the current situation in a simple question. The world should not be surprised; experts have long warned for accelerated temperatures due to excess emissions, but dizzy it is. Politicians are dizzy, business leaders are dizzy, the public sector is dizzy, citizens are dizzy. Not all of course, but many. So when Fossil-Free Sweden presented the hydrogen strategy to the government yesterday, you could hear Sweden’s Minister of Energy Anders Ygeman say things like “in the first place, we need to invest in the charging infrastructure for electric cars. Electrification has to be prioritized”.
Luckily, our Minister of Finance and Housing, Per Bolund, was also present at the event and could describe why it can’t be one or the other; that it must be both, as well as that the hydrogen question is significantly greater than that of electric cars. Hydrogen can reduce Sweden’s fossil emissions by more than 30%. We can’t afford not to prioritize that, Anders Ygeman. And as said, it has very little to do with charging infrastructure for electric cars, and more about energy storage, industries, heavy traffic, collaborations, new business models, new jobs and new knowledge. A sustainable future if you want.
Anders Ygeman received the strategy however, together with Per Bolund, which means that we can hope and work to ensure that it will also be implemented.
Yes, we talk a lot about hydrogen, but it is close to our hearts and we do what we can to develop a sustainable word together with our customers.
Taxonomy confusion
The confusion is evident also in the discussions about the EU’s Taxonomy. Taxonomy is the tool that EU has developed to help financial institutions assess which investments are environmentally sustainable. The confusion has been around who should report – all companies, almost none, or just financial institutions? There has certainly been monumental confusion on that issue. We attended a seminar this week where leading experts who had actually been involved in developing the taxonomy could not answer that question.
It all ended up with Finansinspektionen who finally clarified that even in Sweden, it is the EU Directive for non-financial accounting, NFRD, that governs, not the Swedish Annual Accounts Act. This means that all Swedish companies with more than 500 employees should report in accordance with the taxonomy from this year on. Thanks for the clarification.
Science Based Targets – don’t forget science
In all this dizziness, it is gratifying that so many companies realize that we don’t have time to wait for sustainability to happen. They do their homework, set goals and act to reduce their footprint. We have said it before, and we say it again: the private sector is leading the way.
More and more companies are also setting climate goals in accordance with research, so-called Science Based Targets. This means that you set up a plan where you show how you will work to reduce your emissions in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target. Here, too, the progress is really fast. Just a while ago, you could only find large, global companies among those who set scientific target, while today, you can find an increasing amount of smaller companies coming in. There is one example in Gävle, where Sörby Handelsträdgård, as the first garden company ever in the whole world, had its climate goal approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative this summer. Brave and important in this dizzy world. It makes you want to buy your tulips from them, right?
With that, we close this week with a determined and completely non-dizzy bang and wish you a nice weekend!
