At an EU summit during the corona pandemic, the historic decision was taken to shore up EU countries financially through a recovery fund. The pandemic has led to a pot of €7.5 trillion to be distributed, with €3.5 trillion going out in grants and €4.4 trillion in loans.
It is now clear that Sweden will be granted SEK 34 billion in grants - and the largest investment, SEK 8 billion, will go directly to local and regional climate investments. This is due to the condition that a larger part of the Swedish money will go to climate measures, writes DN in an article.
- The planned measures are targeted at the sectors with the highest emissions, such as energy, housing, industry and transport. I also commend the ambitions of the plan in the areas of digital transformation, healthcare, employment, education and the housing market, says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen according to DN.
Exceeds requirements for climate action
The EU's requirements for the investments were that at least 20% should go to digitisation and at least 37% to measures that support climate action. Sweden's plan matches the requirements for digitalisation - but has chosen to invest 44% for sustainable purposes.
A first payment of SEK 10 billion is expected in the autumn and the grants are expected to increase the country's GDP by 0.3%. In addition to the sum for the Swedish transition, the largest investments will go to further training in the care of the elderly and to the expansion of broadband, with SEK 5 billion allocated to each of the two areas.
