MALMO'S ISLAMISTS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS CO-EXIST, UNEASILY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STOCKHOLM 000327 DOE FOR EERE SIPDIS E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: ENRG SENV KGHG KISL PGOV SW SUBJECT: MALMO'S ISLAMISTS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS CO-EXIST, UNEASILY ¶1. Summary: The Charge, accompanied by the Regional Senior Commercial Officer and the Energy and Environment Outreach Assistant visited Lund and Malmo in southern Sweden May 14-15 to learn more about the Swedish side of the Oresund Region. Malmo is reinventing itself and trying to improve its reputation as an Islamist hotspot by adopting an environmental-friendly image. Embassy Stockholm visited a sustainable neighborhood in Malmo's Western Harbor that runs on locally produced wind and solar power and is a biological resort for plants and animals. Embassy Stockholm also went to Lund to meet with current cleantech companies on the Embassy's list of 'Alternative Energy Opportunities in Sweden', as well as companies aspiring to join this list. End summary. THE ORESUND REGION -------------- ¶2. The Oresund Region, the coastal region of southern Sweden and eastern Denmark is one of the fastest growing areas in Europe. The Swedish City of Malmo and the Danish capital of Copenhagen are connected by the Oresund Bridge; these two urban hubs of the Oresund have a combined population of 3.6 million, including 150,000 students at 12 local universities. ¶3. The Swedish port city of Malmo has acquired a reputation for civil unrest. The Arab and Balkan immigrant-dominated suburb of Rosengard has received much negative media exposure recently as clashes have taken place between law-enforcement and fire-fighters on one side and young immigrants on the other. According to Statistics Sweden's website, 22,000 people live in Rosengard. 35 percent are under the age of 20 and merely 6 percent are above age ¶70. People from 111 countries inhabit the area, speaking over 50 languages. ¶4. Dr. Aje Carlbom, Researcher in Social Anthropology at Malmo University, lived in Rosengard in the 1990s as part of his research. Dr. Carlbom told the Charge that the suburb is largely split along ethnic lines. Ethnic Swedes reside in one area, people from the Balkans live in another part and individuals originating from Iraq live in a third area. There is also a divide among Muslims. More radical Islamists make up their own group and largely socialize with one another, and clash with more moderate Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood, who have the majority of the seats in Sweden's Muslim Council, per Dr. Carlbom. According to Dr. Carlbom there is little 
interaction beyond one's own ethnic group. (Dr. Carlbom is an FY-07 participant in the International Visitor program.) ¶5. Malmo is trying to counteract the negative press by adopting an environmental-friendly, more positive profile. The Director of Environment at the City of Malmo, Katarina Pelin, listed several steps taken to become a sustainable city -- roughly 40 percent of the population bikes to work, public buses are run on biogas, and six areas in the city have been designated for sustainability projects. ¶6. We visited one such area, Bo01 in the Western Harbor, where cutting-edge architecture is combined with sustainability. This former industrial site and shipyard was opened in 2001. Bo01 has 1,000 homes covering over 60 acres and runs on locally produced wind and solar power. Excess electricity is also fed into the grid offering electricity to other parts of Malmo. Bo01 borrows electricity from the grid when weather conditions are unfavorable. In addition, Bo01 has an open drainage system which traps rainwater on roofs covered by vegetation, in courtyard ponds and open channels, thus creating biological resorts and ecosystems for plants and animals. ROUNDTABLES WITH CLEANTECH COMPANIES AT IDEON IN LUND -------------- -------------- ¶7. Malmo and the nearby university town of Lund have received recognition for their ability to cultivate cleantech companies. Embassy Stockholm visited Ideon Science Park, a meeting place for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that offers support to aspiring companies by functioning as an incubator, providing both offices and networking possibilities. Hans Moller, CEO of Ideon, told the visitors that the science park currently hosts 270 companies, 10 percent of these are in the cleantech industry. ¶8. Ideon provided a venue for Embassy Stockholm's roundtables with current companies on its list of 'Alternative Energy Opportunities in Sweden' and companies aspiring to join this list. Current companies on the list participating were Beakon Technologies, Bioprocess Control, Catator, Compower, Lackeby Water and REAC Fuel. The Commercial Counselor was particularly impressed by Beakon Technologies which is in the thermoelectric industry converting excess heat into electricity. The company's technology can benefit both home appliances and car engines. It is currently working with companies in Florida and South Carolina. Bioprocess Control is an STOCKHOLM 00000327 002 OF 002 attractive business optimizing biogas production. It does so through improving biogas companies' equipment and production processes. In 2008 they launched their product and have already set up an office in Beijing. They are now looking to further expand their business to the United States. ¶9. The Embassy Stockholm group met with four companies aspiring to join the list: Bentech; Detox; Lindinvent; and NFO Drives. Three of these companies will be added to the list when the next version is released on June 30. Detox processes algae in order to remove metals and toxins so the algae can be turned into biogas. Lindinvent has come up with a green diffuser which controls indoor climate, lights, heating and cooling and power supply to appliances and utilities -- enabling major energy savings. NFO Drives has invented a product controlling the speed of engines without causing any electromagnetic disturbance making the device suitable for hospitals and residential buildings. LUND UNIVERSITY-NREL BIOFUELS COOPERATION -------------- -------------- ¶10. Embassy Stockholm also met with Dr. Guido Zacchi of Lund University, who is the point of contact for the university's cooperation with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on converting biomass into biofuels, a collaboration that benefits both parties and continues to be productive. Jim McMillan at NREL and Dr. Zacchi are working closely to share materials and methods to produce biofuels and cost-efficiency models. SILVERMAN