Sweden's Carbon Emissions and the EU Presidency. (July 5, 2009)

Bob Park in this week's What's New Column notes:

SWEDEN’S ECONOMY GROWS AS CO₂ EMISSION DROPS --

Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeld

On Wednesday, Sweden assumed the presidency of the EU from the Czech Republic just in time to lead the EU into the Copenhagen Summit on global warming, which may have had something to do with the timing of the summit. The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, a libertarian economist, authored a book that translates to something like "Blue Planet in Green Shackles". He describes global warming as a myth. Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt, who replaces Klaus as EU President, immediately called on the EU to do more to combat climate change.

Sweden  is a perfect example, with a 50% economic growth since 1990 combined with a  10% cut in CO₂ emissions. All of Sweden's electricity comes from  hydroelectric or nuclear power giving it a 20% rate of renewable  energy.“We have put our renewable target at 50% for 2020," Reinfeldt  said, "so we are preparing for a huge increase in wind power."