More than 50,000 march in Stockholm demanding stronger climate action

More than 50,000 people marched through central Stockholm on Sunday to demand stronger measures against climate change, organisers said, with Sweden’s national election three weeks away.

Around 280 organisations participated in the demonstration, including environmental and human rights groups, trade unions, religious bodies, researchers and cultural organisations, according to Swedish media reports.

Beatrice Rindevall, chairperson of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and one of the principal organisers, urged policymakers to recognise the seriousness of the climate crisis and take stronger action.

The demonstration was held as climate change gains greater prominence among voters ahead of next month’s election. Public attitudes towards the issue, however, remain increasingly divided along ideological lines.

About 65 per cent of Swedes identifying with the political left said they were deeply concerned about climate change, compared with fewer than 30 per cent of those on the right, according to the latest national survey by the University of Gothenburg’s SOM Institute.

A separate survey conducted by Swedish polling company Novus in June ranked climate change as the sixth most important political issue for voters. It had occupied ninth place in January.

Martin Hultman, a sociology professor at the University of Gothenburg, told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the country could be witnessing a fresh wave of public engagement on climate change.

He said an earlier wave had lost momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic amid lobbying by the fossil-fuel industry, disinformation and electoral advances by right-wing nationalist groups.

The renewed mobilisation could partly be driven by people encountering the consequences of climate change more directly in their daily lives, Hultman said.

Sweden will hold elections to the Riksdag, its national parliament, as well as regional and municipal councils on 13 September.

With IANS inputs