Sweden wants to be the first country in the world to completely phase out oil as a fuel, focusing on renewable energy sources.
“Our dependence on oil is expected to end by 2020,” Sustainable Development Minister Mona Sahlin said. The project to make Sweden an oil-free state is led by a consortium of industrialists, academics, farmers, car manufacturers, government officials and others. They will report to the Swedish parliament in a few months.
The Swedish parliament said the plan to replace fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy was essential for environmental and economic reasons. “Liberating our country from fossil fuels would provide us with enormous benefits, starting with reducing the impact of fluctuations in oil prices, which have tripled since 1996,” Sahlin said.
The minister indicated that Sweden would put in place the following measures: tax relief for the conversion to fuels other than oil; increased use of renewable energies; introduction of additional measures in favor of renewable fuels; increased investments aimed at developing a “renewable society”; and continued investment in district heating (generally geothermal or biomass).