Green Solutions Through Partnerships and Shared Visions

Road to 2045

Green Solutions Through Partnerships and Shared Visions

By Jakob Lagercrantz

Iwill never forget sitting in a meeting with executives from the fuel industry in Sweden. We had invited Alberto Ayala, the former Deputy Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board, to present some far-reaching initiatives taken by the State of California. Alberto was one of the tough regulators who discovered that Volkswagen had fitted their US diesel cars with a cheating device for faking nitrogen oxide emissions. This developed into “dieselgate” and has since cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and lawsuits.

Jakob Lagercrantz. Photo: Malin Jochumsen

Alberto listened to plans for renewable fuels presented by the Swedish fuel companies, and was impressed by the open dialogue and innovation. He afterwards told me that “in California we would have threatened lawsuits and left the room.” The Swedish fuel industry has chosen to be a part of the solution rather than sticking to the fossil fuels. We still have a long way to go, but at least we have started.

The Swedish co-operative approach has served us well through the years. Striking agreements across political parties, between unions and employers, and between landowners and the government on “allemansrätten” (the unique Swedish approach to the right to public access) is a Swedish way of moving things forward.

The co-operation in Sweden on environmental issues is just as strong and it is surprisingly free of obstacles. Both the public and corporate worlds share the concerns for the climate effect. We formed the 2030-secretariat in 2013 as a partnership between enterprises determined to reach the political climate target of a 70 per cent decrease of carbon emissions in the transport sector by 2030. This is a unique and ambitious target, an important part of the Climate law adopted in 2017.

The 2030-secretariat is made up of 70 significant partners, a “Coalition of the Willing” united in the goal of decarbonizing the transport sector. Our partners are large and small companies representing the different areas needing development: vehicle technology, fuels, and behaviour. What is unique is that we can agree to disagree in some areas while still in full agreement on the long-term goal. We welcome all technologies, as long as they contribute to the overall goal, and we work independently of political parties.

It is strange that the climate debate remains polarized in so many countries, and that countries miss seeing the advantages of green growth. With the Green Deal in Europe we see new possibilities, and California is showing the way in the US with innovative environmental legislation supporting the leading edge of industry.

There is growth, profits and innovation in green development, and a fertile ground for agreement across sectors.

The Swedish 2030-secretariat was formed to support the decarbonization of the transport sector in Sweden. The secretariat is independent from political parties and technical solutions.

Swedish Press Connects [ ] Association of Swedish Teachers and Researchers in America

Sweden Symposium 16 – 17 October 2020

By Mark Safstrom, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Scandinavian Studies, Augustana College | Rock Island, Illinois

Article prepared for Swedish Press as part of the Association of Swedish Teachers and Researchers of America (ASTRA) feature articles on Swedish Programs in American Higher Education.

The Swedish Nightingale – 200 Years: Jenny Lind and Swedish America

The Association of Swedish Teachers and Researchers’ (ASTRA) annual Sweden Symposium will be held as an online conference on October 16 and 17, with most events scheduled between 10 am and 3 pm (Central Time, USA). This symposium is geared toward supporting and equipping Jenny Lind in the title role of Bellini’s “Norma,” by Olof Johan Södermark. teachers and researchers in Swedish language and Scandinavian Studies who live and work across North America. Our events encourage the active engagement of participants in the exchange of their experiences and new ideas.

In this bicentennial year of Jenny Lind’s birth, our featured speakers will present on the life of the famous opera singer, her significance as a cultural icon, and her legendary American tour. Our speakers will include:

Hélène Ohlsson, a doctoral student in theater science at Stockholm University, as well as an actress, director and author. Her lecture will explore how the opera singers Jenny Lind and Christina Nilsson each maneuvered in their U.S.

tours and how they portrayed different senses of Swedishness and why.

Anita Olson Gustafson, Professor of History, and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Mercer University, Georgia, will discuss Jenny Lind’s tour in relationship to Swedish America, as well as her media reception in places like New York, Charleston, and Chicago. She will also discuss her book, Swedish Chicago: The Shaping of an Immigrant Community, 1880-1920 (Northern Illinois University Press, 2018).

The symposium will include presentations on the timely topic of how to use digital humanities and historical collections in research and instruction on Swedish America, featuring representatives from the Swedish American Museum in Chicago (Karin Abercrombie), the Swedish American Archives of Greater Chicago (Andy Meyer), and the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center in Rock Island (Lisa Huntsha). There will also be opportunity for discussion of best practices in teaching Swedish during the coronavirus pandemic and the state of the field.

The Sweden Symposium is sponsored by the Swedish Institute, and is co-hosted this year by the three collegiate Swedish programs in the state of Illinois: Augustana College in Rock Island, the University of Illinois in UrbanaChampaign, and North Park University in Chicago.

Visit www.astra.us for updated program details and schedule, as well as to learn more about ASTRA. For questions regarding the program, please contact the program committee members, Mark Safstrom (marksafstrom@ augustana.edu), Verena Höfig (verena@illinois.edu), and Anne Marie Andreasson-Hogg (aandreasson@northpark. edu). For questions about ASTRA, including membership info, please contact Scott Mellor (samellor@wisc.edu).

Swedish Press Connects [ ] Making Artificial Intelligence Intelligible

Max Tegmark blev Årets svensk i världen

Max Tegmark har i år utnämnts till Årets svensk i världen av organisationen Svenskar i Världen. I över trettio år har utmärkelsen förärats svenskar som på ett extraordinärt sätt har utmärkt sig inom olika områden och satt både sig själva och Sverige på världskartan. I fjol fick EUkommissionär Cecilia Malmström motta utmärkelsen.

Max Tegmark är professor vid en av världens mest prestigefulla universitetsinstitutioner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, där han forskar på fysik och maskininlärning. Han är också en av världens mest respekterade och tongivande uttolkare av artificiell intelligens, AI. Framstående personer som Elon Musk och nu framlidne Stephen Hawking är några av dem som har hyllat svensken som ofta benämns som världens smartaste svensk. I år föräras han utmärkelsen Årets svensk i världen. – Max Tegmark är en av de mest framstående forskarna inom AI på den internationella scenen. Med sina djupa kunskaper och pedagogiska insatser hjälper han oss att förstå och närma oss AI. Hans banbrytande arbete är viktigt inte bara för dagens forskning utan även för vår förmåga att fatta effektiva, framtidssäkra beslut baserade på en genomtänkt etisk grund. Därmed är Max Tegmark en värdig mottagare av utmärkelsen Årets svensk i världen 2020, säger Svenskar i Världens ordförande Louise Svanberg.

Framstående svenskar inom olika områden

Sedan 1988 utser Svenskar i Världen årligen en svensk som gjort framstående insatser för att profilera Sverige internationellt inom kultur, näringsliv, entreprenörskap, vetenskap, idrott eller inom det humanitära och diplomatiska området. Några av tidigare års pristagare är EU-kommissionär Cecilia Malmström (2019), Zlatan Ibrahimović (2013), Astrid Lindgren (1997) och Ingvar Kamprad (1989).

Livesänd prisutdelning

Coronapandemin resulterade i att den sedvanliga prisutdelningen, som brukar äga rum i samband med festlig lunch i Stockholm, i år ersattes med en digital prisceremoni: Årets svensk i världen LIVE.

Max Tegmark utnämns, Årets svensk i världen. Foto: Volante Förlag

Förutom pristagaren deltog Martin Lundstedt, koncernchef Volvo Group; Sara Mazur, ordförande Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP); och Erik Ekudden, Senior Vice President och Group CTO på Ericsson.

Förutom diskussion om AI:s roll i samhällsutvecklingen korades Max Tegmark officiellt till Årets svensk i världen 2020 av Svenskar i Världens ordförande Louise Svanberg. Claudia Olsson, expert inom digital transformation inom World Economic Forum och grundare av utbildningsbolaget Stellar Capacity, ledde diskussionerna.

Exklusiv föreläsning

I samband med utmärkelsen lanserades SWED-talk med Max Tegmark. SWED-talk är en exklusiv föreläsning där Tegmark ger sitt perspektiv på vår framtid med artificiell intelligens. Han menar att Europa och Sverige har en världsunik möjlighet att se till att det blir en inspirerande framtid för alla människor i stället för en brutal teknikdystopi med massövervakning och extrem ojämlikhet. Årets svensk i världen LIVE och SWED-talk med Max Tegmark finns att se på www.sviv.se.

Summary in English: Swedish Professor Max Tegmark is the recipient of the 2020 International Swede of the Year award by Svenskar i Världen (SVIV). Dr Tegmark is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is one of the world’s most prominent researchers in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). He advocates the use of AI in the service of all mankind rather than as a tool for achieving mass surveillance and extreme inequality.