Umeå's environmental goals are criticized from several directions

This autumn, the municipality of Umeå will decide on new environmental goals and the proposal that has been out on a referral says, among other things, that Umeå will be fossil-free in 2040.

This summer, the referral period expired and both the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, and the organization Fridays for future in Umeå have criticized the environmental objectives are not sufficiently concrete.

SLU writes that many of the measures are worded in a vague manner with words such as "promote", "encourage" and "secure". According to them, a measure should be far more concrete and well-defined to work.

SLU is positive about the goal of fossil freedom, but believes that the goal must be clarified more clearly and made follow-up.

- The problem is that it was unclear to us how to ensure that the action work is still initiated in the short term so that a long-term goal does not become an alibi to wait for action work, says Dean Göran Ståhl, who wants to see concrete interim goals in the short term.

Fridays For Future is also critical and questions the goal "Fossil-free Umeå 2040".

- Apart from such a target pushing for measures in the future, according to the carbon dioxide budget, we only have six years left with the current emission levels. After that, our emission space is exhausted, says Carl Weidenstolpe.

But it was not only Firdays for future and SLU that had comments on the proposal. According to Umeå municipal council Janet Ågren (S), the municipality has received over 50 referral responses.

- There have been a lot of comments, which is fun when we go on a referral round that there are so many people who are interested in the proposal. And it is clear that we have to decide on the proposals that have come in and weigh them against each other.

Both SLU and Fridays for future consider it important that the municipality has a carbon dioxide budget.

- This is important as support for the action, as a greenhouse gas budget calls into place the major problems and opportunities, says Göran Ståhl at SLU.

But despite the fact that Umeå writes in the referral documentation for the municipality's local environmental target 2019 that a carbon dioxide budget is needed, the municipality chose not to do so this spring.

Fridays for future then chose to raise money to pay for a municipality's own carbon budget, which will now be included in the municipality's overall analysis.

- We have always said that the most important thing is to first develop environmental goals and then for each environmental and climate goal also to develop different types of action plans, says Janet Ågren (S).