Left-wing anger after the king's climate statement: 'How much should we really pay?'

Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf questions how much money the Western world is investing in climate, sparking strong left-wing reactions.
– How much should we really pay? he asks.

The climate meeting ‘COP30’ begins today in Belém, Brazil. The summit, which will last until next Friday, is attended by tens of thousands of dignitaries from nearly 200 different countries.

Preparations for the summit have been hectic. A completely new congress facility has been built to accommodate all events, and the city has also received a new bypass motorway cutting through the rainforest.

Critical Swedish king

Two of those present at the summit since last week are the Swedish royal couple; King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia. And the Swedish king is critical of the enormous sums that are to be invested to ‘save the climate’.

– That all countries should be able to sign the same paper. It’s not possible. I think that everyone should take our own responsibilities and do the best we can. And Europe is only six percent, which Europe produces, he told Swedish radio last week.

– Everyone complains that it’s too much. How much should we really pay? That’s the crucial question.

Swedish radio: When you say ‘how much should we pay’, who are ‘we’ then?

– Yes, the West, that is. Maybe Europe.

Critical political scientist

The king is not alone in questioning how many billions politicians intend to spend on the climate project. But despite that, he should keep quiet.

At least that’s the opinion of left-wing political scientist Katarina Eckerberg.

– It’s nothing he should get involved in, she said in a TT interview.

Eckerberg, who previously sat on the Climate Policy Council established by the Red-Green government in 2018, and who has also expressed positive views on left-wing extremist climate actions, believes that climate is politics, and therefore not something the Swedish monarch should have opinions on.

The government disagrees

The Swedish head of state does not even have the support of his own government. Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (L) believes it is important for Europe to further reduce its emissions.

– Factually, he’s not wrong. But I don’t share the conclusion, she told Swedish television.

Pourmokhtari also wants taxpayers in Sweden and other Western countries to pay even more so-called ‘climate aid’ to third world countries, with the alleged aim of reducing their climate emissions.

Last year, Sweden paid over 11 billion in such climate aid.