PRIME MINISTER REIGNS IN PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L STOCKHOLM 000573 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (CLASS BY LINE AND PARA 2 MARKS) CONFIDENTIAL, PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2019 TAGS: SENV KGHG PREL SW SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER REIGNS IN PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON U.S. CLIMATE CHANGE EFFORTS CLASSIFIED BY: ROBERT SILVERMAN REASON 1.4 (B) AND (C) REF: STOCKHOLM 567 ¶1. (C) The Swedish Prime Minister's office has issued an internal directive to reign in government officials following a series of inconsistent public statements on climate change, including statements by Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren that the U.S. needs to do more. The Ambassador had raised these public statements with both the Environment Minister and the Prime Minister's National Security Advisor Gustav Lind. After meeting with the Ambassador, Lind issued a "language-rule" giving guidance on the official view of U.S. efforts on climate change. Post has obtained a confidential copy of this internal Swedish government directive. The following is an informal embassy translation: ¶2. (C) Begin translation: "The will to participate in a solution to the climate question that President Obama has shown is strongly welcomed. The President's stated goal for the U.S. to be included in a coming global climate agreement is very positive, and a condition for the climate question to reach a solution. The proposed federal legislation which has been introduced in the Senate and passed by the House of Representatives -- the Waxman-Markey bill -- is a very important step. The bill is now moving through the Senate but it is uncertain if they will have time to reach a decision before the Copenhagen summit. It is therefore also uncertain what the final result will be. The U.S. has increased its emissions since 1990 by more than 15%. The Waxman-Markey bill in its current form will lead to an emissions decrease by 7 percent by 2020 compared to 1990. The U.S. is thus not sufficiently contributing to the shared Annex I undertaking to reduce emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020. The same applies to a number of other Annex I countries. On the other hand, the U.S. will in a significant way contribute to the long-term goal, based on the Waxman-Markey bill's proposal to reduce emissions by over 80 percent. We realize that the political system in the U.S. does not allow any simple path for the President to make additional commitments to step up the level of U.S. ambition regarding the mid-term target for 2020. In a similar way, the EU has its internal challenge -- to make 27 member states accept an ambitious increase to a 30 percent emissions reduction. An important role for the EU will therefore be to, in dialogue with the U.S. and other parties, try to find constructive solutions so that the outcome regarding emissions reductions in the "medium to long-term" perspective are enough so that the two-degree target will be kept. In this context the EU also puts demands on the major developing economies; where a systematic effort to prevent an increase in emissions in synch with the economic development is a necessary condition to achieve the two degree target. End translation. ¶3. (C) Embassy Comment: The Embassy does not recall the government having issued a "language rule" previously, and we have never been contacted by the Prime Minister's Office offering to provide us a copy. The language rule reflects a greater appreciation of U.S. efforts than shown in public statements by Environment Minister Carlgren. BARZUN