Environment

Sweden Appears to Troll President Trump With This New Photo

February 3rd 2017

Swedish climate minister Isabella Lövin tweeted an image of herself signing a climate pledge — which some on social media are speculating is a pointed trolling of President Donald Trump.

The photo depicts Lövin surrounded by seven other women, and it bears close resemblance to widely-circulated photo of Trump signing an executive order on January 23 reinstating the global gag rule.

The Swedish legislation aims to phase out greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045.

To reach the goal, Sweden would need to cut domestic fossil fuel emissions 85 percent compared to 1990 levels, according to the Guardian.

power-plantFlickr/Michael Kappel - flic.kr

"I think meeting the target is entirely possible," Lövin told Swedish news outlet the Local. "We can see that with goals we set previously, like the one for renewable energy levels by 2020, where we have already met the target. It actually tends to go quicker. Once you set a goal and start on the road, things tend to go very quickly. We'll see. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s sooner than 2045."

The legislation will be put before the Riksdag assembly in March and will go into effect in 2018 if signed into law. Every party in the Riksdag except the far-right Swede Democrats — seven out of the country's eight parties — support the climate pledge.

Lövin remained coy about the inspiration behind the tweet.

“We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo,” Lövin told the Guardian. “Ultimately it is up to the observer to interpret the photo.”

Women on Twitter applauded the image.

European nations to continue to work to fight climate change.

Denmark, Finland, and the U.K. have each set similar carbon emissions goals in recent years. The European Union is on track to meet its goal of renewable energy sources comprising 20 percent of total energy consumption by 2020, according to a parliamentary report released February 2017. Still, there remains room for improvement — even in countries that have set ambitious emissions targets, the report points out.

From the Guardian:

"However, while for 22 member states total net import dependency decreased between 2005 and 2014, over the same period import dependency significantly increased in Denmark, Poland and the UK 'due to the decline of indigenous fossil fuel production.'

"Lithuania also became more dependent due to the closure of nuclear plants."

“We need climate leadership in the world today," a spokesperson of the Swedish climate minister told BuzzFeed News. "And to make the Paris agreement happen we need climate leadership.”

Meanwhile, in the United States.

"The U.S. will clearly change its course on climate policy," EPA transition team head Myron Ebell told reporters in London on January 30. "Trump has made it clear he will withdraw from the Paris Agreement. He could do it by executive order tomorrow or he could do it as part of a larger package."

donald-trumpAP/Evan Vucci - apimages.com

White House press representatives could not be reached for comment on the issue at time of reporting.

Trump claimed he would renegotiate the Paris Agreement, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in May 2016. However, in a November interview with the New York Times, Trump said he had "an open mind" about the climate accord.

“The position we hear from the new [U.S.] administration is worrying,” Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven said after emissions pledge was announced.

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