SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Peter Dyer and Alexandra Thörnroos, Wåhlin Advokater AB
3. Climate Change, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development in Mining 3.1 Climate Change Effects
municipality and LKAB have entered into a num - ber of agreements for the development of the community, particularly as a consequence of the expansion of the mining area, which has led to large-scale moving and reconstruction of public and private buildings in Kiruna. Bad Example In contrast, one of the most contentious mining projects in Sweden in recent times is the Kallak project in the far north of the country. A UK min - ing company, Beowulf Mining, has found at least 600 million tonnes of iron ore in the area and has been pressing for a mining permit in the face of fierce opposition. Plans for the mine have been opposed by the indigenous Sami people, who have the backing of UN rights experts and the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, as well as climate change activist Greta Thunberg. A UN spokesman issued a public statement express - ing great concern about “the lack of good-faith consultations and the failure to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of the Sami, and over the significant and irreversible risks that the (Kallak) project poses to Sami lands, resources, culture and livelihoods”. In the summer of 2019, more than 1,000 people got together in a tent camp in Kallak to protest in solidarity with the Sami people. Nevertheless, in March 2022 the Swedish government gave a qualified green light to Beowulf to proceed with its plans for an iron ore mine. This enabled Beowulf to start economic and environmental studies and apply to an environmental court to start processing ore, but it will have to meet a range of environmental and other conditions that the government attached to its approval.
In 2018, Svemin (the Swedish Association of Mines, Mineral and Metal Producers) presented a Road Map for a Competitive and Fossil-free Mining and Mineral Industry, in collaboration with the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) and Fossil Free Sweden. The targets in the road map include fossil-free mining in 2035 and cli - mate-neutral processing and completely fossil- free energy use in 2045. To implement the road - map, the industry is working on: • increased electrification; • switching to biofuel in a transitional phase where electricity cannot yet be used; • further automation and digitalisation for more efficient vehicles; and • technological development in processing – eg, using hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Svemin is co-ordinating the process of imple - menting the roadmap, and it is reported that several mining companies have drawn on it to produce roadmaps of their own. 3.2 Climate Change Legislation and Proposals Related to Mining No climate change legislation specific to mining has yet been passed in Sweden. The Climate Policy Framework of 2017, which introduced the Climate Act, includes a review of all relevant leg - islation in emissions sectors. One of the sectors to be analysed is the transport sector, which is closely related to and is likely to impact the min - ing industry. In the meantime, climate change initiatives directly related to mining are being pushed forward by industry organisations such
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