Stockholm+50 - Accelerating environmental action

Follow the latest news and insights from Stockholm+50, the international high-level environmental meeting convened by the United Nations on 2 and 3 June 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden. Sweco is accredited to the meeting and Andreas Gyllenhammar, our Chief Sustainability Officer, will be covering the challenges, pledges and actions directly from the meeting rooms.

The scene

Following the news nowadays is not for the faint of heart. You could easily draw the conclusion that we’re on a slippery slope towards global chaos and there is no end to the ever-growing pile of crises: Inflation, disrupted value chains, energy and fuel prices skyrocketing and on top of that: War in Europe. All of this is true and need to be addressed by politicians, business leaders and civil society. However, underlying all of this, we have the environmental challenges. The climate crisis, loss of biodiversity and emissions of various pollutants. These three challenges are also the focus areas for this week’s UN summit in Stockholm where the delegates from all around the globe will meet to commemorate the first UN environmental conference, held in 1972 in the very same city. The conference name? Stockholm+50: A healthy planet for all - our responsibility, our opportunity.

The heritage

Why Stockholm and Sweden? During the 1960s, environmental awareness grew in Sweden. Led by a few individuals, the debate focused mainly on the chemical industry pollution on the environment and the resulting effects on human health. The Swedish UN delegation took initiatives to gather data on the present global situation on the environment. Sweden also used its ”convening power” to work with diplomacy and became a global force in the emerging field of global environmental governance. Looking back at the 1972 conference, it sure kicked off some response from the governance side. The Stockholm Declaration contained 26 principles, stating what we today would call ”The obvious” about the importance of the environment to human wellbeing and the responsibility for science, law and national institutions. Following the Stockholm meeting, the UN founded the United Nations Environmental Program, UNEP, which today enrolls almost 1,000 people working with global governance.?

The trends

What hasn’t turned out well are the actual environmental trends. With few exceptions (one being the improved ozone layer), the global environment is deteriorating. I will not dwell on the negative trends here but merely conclude that we are at a time in history where we see a sufficiently clear picture of what is happening, we have all the knowledge and technology needed to safeguard our planet and we still have a window of opportunity for action. But the window is closing.?

What to expect?

In contrast to the UNFCCC COP meetings on climate change, Stockholm+50 has no negotiations on the agenda so expect no new global agreements or goals. This is reasonable, considering that we do not lack goals or agreements. We even do not lack solutions to many of our environmental problems. Although the picture on how our societies affect the planetary boundaries, we could expect more reports being released as the week goes on. What we do lack, however, is taking adequate action. The solutions that are on the table needs to be implemented at scale and with a much faster pace. We could expect pressure from the youth movements during the conference. Fridays for Future has called for a global climate strike on June 3 (obviously a Friday…).

We could also expect Stockholm+50 to produce voluntary commitments, à la Glasgow COP26, where coalitions of willing stakeholders will gather around selected topics and promise money and/or action to be taken. Look out for the UNEP, ILO and UNICEF’s ”Green jobs pact” and the UNEP-led coalition CODES that will present a plan for how digitalization can support sustainability. And of course, the Stockholm Action Agenda on how to transform global value chains.

Why is Sweco present?

There are two main reasons why we choose to participate in the UN high-level meetings. Firstly, having long-time experience from working with sustainable development and environmental solutions, we have a responsibility to share what we know and interact with the delegations. Secondly, we analyse the agenda, the conversations and the output to be able to better prepare ourselves and advise our clients on possible development trends and market conditions.

Sweco delegates and events at Stockholm+50

Ann-Louise L?kholm Klasson, President of Sweco Sweden.

Ann-Louise will participate in the WBCSD event on transforming the built environment. Watch the event online here.

Andreas Gyllenhammar, Chief Sustainability Officer

Andreas will follow the high-level dialogues, analyse the main conference outcome and also moderate Sweco’s associated event on Circularity. Follow the event online here.

Guy Geudens, Senior environmental expert, Sweco Belgium

Guy will target relevant events during the conference and interpret and analyze the conversations and outcome.

Stay tuned for more blog posts during the week.

/Andreas