One Blue Marble Blog

It’s easy to grow weary of the excuses and the bullshit. In Canada, we pretend that nation is singular and unique, that it’s somehow harder for Canadians to cut their greenhouse gas emissions because of our special circumstances. The Great White North, so cold and vast and unforgiving.

It’s easy for the British to cut their carbon emissions, we say, because they have such mild winters. It’s easy for people in Oslo to take mass transit because everything is packed so close together. Canadians need their trucks, an we need to keep our thermostats at 21°C to keep the pipes from freezing.

But none of that explains why the average Canadian has almost four times the carbon footprint as the average Swede. We share so much in common: our long, cold winters, our love for the greatest of winter sports, our passion for family. And yet Swedes manage to enjoy a wonderful standard of living while treading very lightly on the planet.

Admittedly, the Swedes have several natural advantages, including smarter politicians, a fair bit of hydroelectric power, and a political system that leans to the left, and isn’t so materialistic.

Sweden also has a stiff carbon tax, and has since the early 1990s, so industry and consumers have been forced to embrace energy efficiency and support renewable energy even as we in North America destroy our environment and our economy. The recession is hurting Sweden, to be sure, but not to the extent that it is here. And when the recession ends, they will once again be poised for growth, while Canada wallows.

I’ve saved the best part for last.

Sweden isn’t resting on its laurels, and the current government is busy designing Europe’s “most ambitious” strategy to improve energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The government now expects that renewable energy will comprise 50 percent of the country’s energy matrix by 2020, for the Swedish car fleet to be independent of fossil fuels by 2030, and for the entire country to be carbon neutral by 2050.

“As the first industrialized country, we are presenting a concrete plan towards becoming independent of fossil fuels and reducing emissions to a level that the climate requires,” Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said. “The proposal we are presenting is as a whole the most ambitious climate and energy policy presented by any European country.”

Sweden’s carbon tax was the right move in 1990, so the country is well ahead of its Kyoto obligations. The current centre-right coalition government will increase the taxes on tail pipe emissions on inefficient cars, remove taxes on clean cars, and invest more money in carbon offset projects in developing countries. The government will double its annual contribution to energy efficiency measures to $34 million between 2010 and 2014.

I laughed when I first read that figure. It seems so tiny a sum — barely enough to buy 60 hybrid buses, truth be told.

But you see, the government doesn’t have to throw a lot of money at the problem. The carbon tax has already done all the heavy lifting.