Published July 27, 2021 at 21.09
Domestic. Following the environmental ruling against Cementa, Sweden is threatened with a cement halt already at the end of the year and according to the construction industry, 400,000 jobs are at risk. Now the Riksdag's Business Committee is calling for Minister of Trade and Industry Ibrahim Baylan (S) to an extra meeting during the summer, writes Swedish Radio.
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Cement Crisis
- Alarm about construction stop in all of Sweden: Cement soon ends
< The urgent situation was created by a judgment against Cementa AB in the Supreme Land and Environmental Court earlier in July.
The court rejected the company's application for a renewed permit to mine limestone in the existing quarries in Slite on Gotland. This after Cementa was singled out as a “climate culprit” by its carbon dioxide emissions. The ruling is justified by the fact that the impact of the operation on the groundwater has not been sufficiently investigated.
In 2018, the government decided to expand the so-called Natura 2000 areas closest to Cementa in Slite. The year before, Cementa had warned the government that this could lead to the company's cement production being “significantly hampered/at risk of ceasing, in the near future and in the long term”.
An impact assessment carried out by Byggföretagen has shown that 3 out of 4 new housing will now not be able to start construction in November.
“Several large infrastructure projects are stopped or delayed. Between 200,000 and 400,000 jobs are threatened. The loss of investment is estimated at over SEK 20 billion, per month,” Byggföretagen wrote earlier in July.
The Riksdag's Business Committee now wants to raise the issue with Minister of Trade and Industry Ibrahim Baylan (S).
– We want to convene the Minister of Trade and Industry in the near future in the Riksdag to have a discussion. How could Sweden end up here and what will the Minister of Trade and Industry concretely do to ensure that we have cement in Sweden? says Lars Hjälmered (M), chairman of the committee, to SR.