The King and Queen Silvia are in Belém, Brazil, for a summit ahead of the UN climate conference COP30, which starts on Monday. In an interview with Sveriges Radio on Friday, the King said that it is “not possible to get all countries to sign the same paper and that Europe is already doing a lot to reduce its emissions.”
He also says that Europe only accounts for 6 percent of total emissions and "the rest of the world is much worse."
Do not share the conclusion
The statement has sparked reactions from, among others, Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (L), who tells DN that she does not share the conclusion.
It will be possible to agree on a paper that all countries sign, as long as it is a UN agreement in the form it is in at the climate meetings, that is, not legally binding, she tells the newspaper.
Katarina Eckerberg, professor emerita of political science at Umeå University, also reacts and tells Sveriges Radio that the king should not comment on the possibility that all countries will sign.
His saying that Sweden thinks the things are important is okay, but making hypothetical statements about how the negotiations will end is nothing he should get involved in because that is politics.
“Asking questions”
In an email to Expressen, the court's head of information, Margareta Thorgren, writes that "The King himself describes and asks questions about the complexity and challenges of reaching global agreements. The King is deeply and long-term committed to these issues and has been since the 1970s."
COP30 takes place between November 10 and 21 and no minister from Sweden is participating.
