In September 2015, Agenda 2030 was adopted by the UN General Assembly. This means that member states must jointly achieve 17 main goals and 169 sub-goals for sustainable development. Some of the goals include combating climate change, increasing access to clean water, building sustainable cities and industries, and reducing inequality.
"For me, this is a moment of destiny. I became a politician and also a minister because I am so deeply committed to sustainability issues. It is the defining issue of our time and will determine whether we have a future where we can thrive and develop, or a future that challenges everything we value," says Per Bolund, spokesperson for the Green Party and Minister for the Environment and Climate.
In an interview with DN, he says that we are currently in a critical situation in terms of achieving the goals within the remaining nine years.
He admits that the sustainability goals have been set high.
"I think it's absolutely right to have a high level of ambition in order to achieve as much as possible. The global sustainability goals are a big step forward because we in the international community managed to agree on them together. But now comes the test, to see if we can actually work together to do what is necessary to achieve them.
"Must seize the opportunity to invest"
Bolund sees the global increase in poverty, hunger, and starvation as a major factor in the problem. He believes that Sweden needs to "allocate the resources necessary to help other countries."
But even Sweden is lagging behind in its efforts to achieve the sustainability goals, according to a survey by Statistics Sweden. This is particularly true when it comes to climate issues, equality issues, sustainable production and consumption, and clean oceans. Bolund, on the other hand, is more hopeful and points out that Sweden is well placed to achieve the goals.
"In international comparisons, we are at the top when it comes to implementing the global sustainability goals. But we are far from done and have challenges that we must address. We now have extremely good conditions for making investments, such as low interest rates, and in many ways we are in a situation in Sweden where I feel we must seize the opportunity to invest. If we don't use this opportunity, we risk failing to meet both the global sustainability goals and the climate goals we have set.
SBP offers comprehensive sustainable energy solutions to companies, and CEO Andreas Backström sees a strong desire among Swedish companies to take the step towards a green transition. But there is still much more to be done, he points out.
"I firmly believe that politics, business, interest groups, and green capital will have an enormously positive effect on the transition to a green economy in the future. But the future needs to get started as soon as possible," says Andreas Backström.
