(Bloomberg) -- The Swedish government was rapped by the country’s climate policy watchdog, which said the cabinet’s claim that its plans will lead to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 is “misleading.”

The review by the independent council, published Thursday, concludes that a blueprint announced in December means that necessary measures to meet targets set domestically as well as by the European Union are pushed beyond 2026. 

“This is not a plan to reach neither the national targets, nor the EU’s 2030 targets,” the council’s chair, Asa Persson, said at a launch event in Stockholm. “Instead, the responsibility is pushed into the future, to the next government term.”

The verdict may be the most damning so far for the climate policies of the center-right government, which took power for a four-year term in 2022, backed by the nationalist Sweden Democrats. Political opponents have already accused the cabinet led by Ulf Kristersson of backsliding on climate, in a debate mirroring wider political fissures over the response to global warming, and how a transition to a low-carbon economy will impact populations in the developed world.

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Sweden was an early mover in 2017 when it introduced a climate policy framework that includes legislation requiring the Nordic country to reach net zero emissions by 2045. 

However, some measures introduced to reach that goal have sparked anger among the Swedes. The current government came to power promising to cut fuel prices by slashing the share of biofuels to be included in gas and diesel, a key tool to reduce emissions from the transport sector. Instead, the cabinet has pledged to boost electrification and expand electricity generation from nuclear power. 

Climate and environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari said the government believes that the action plan is the first that sets out a clear path that will make it possible to reach the national targets. 

“A key reason for that is that we choose to open the door for all fossil-free energy sources, which means we’ll have more capacity for electrifying transports and industry,” the minister said after receiving the review. “I feel confident that the Swedish people see the potential in building new nuclear power for the first time in many decades.” 

 

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