Climate Obstruction in Sweden: The Green Welfare State— Both Progressive and Obstructionist

Book chapter, 2024

Applying the concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary climate obstruction, this chapter explores the concept of Swedish ‘middle way’ environmental politics as a type of secondary obstruction. Since the 1970s, there has been a near consensus among Swedish policymakers that economic growth and environmental sustainability can go hand in hand. This middle way has led to incremental emission reductions that may be progressive compared with those of some other industrialized nation-states but are inadequate to reach compliance with the Paris Agreement. While primary obstruction in Sweden has been aimed at those demanding more ambitious climate policies, the chapter argues that the middle way has contributed to secondary obstruction through tactics of delay and geographical displacement, constraining calls for more socially transformative policies. In recent years, middle-way compromise has broken down, with the Swedish far right returning to outright climate science denial and pushing the conservative-liberal government toward such policies.