Sweden's energy independence and green innovation in steelmaking should be a ‘good selling point’ as it seeks to join the NATO security alliance, the country's energy minister has said.
According to Sky News, Sweden's energy minister, Khashayar Farmanbar also said he was ‘really concerned’ about how reliant the rest of Europe still is on Russian oil and gas, and that Sweden was leading by example.
"The green transition creates a lot of new jobs, it gives us energy security, but it also honestly helps us save the planet so it can be habitable for humankind in the future.''
Sweden's energy minister, Khashayar Farmanbar
Speaking at a new green steel project in Lulea in the north of the country, he said: "Compared to a lot of other NATO countries… I would say that we are one of the most energy secure.
"The green transition creates a lot of new jobs, it gives us energy security, but it also honestly helps us save the planet so it can be habitable for humankind in the future.
"And I think that in itself is a very good selling point for Sweden's application to NATO."
"The need for Europe and the whole world to stop using fossil fuels is immense.''
Sweden's energy minister, Khashayar Farmanbar
When asked if Europe had some lessons to learn from Sweden, which has almost entirely decarbonised its electricity production with a mixture of hydropower, nuclear and wind, he replied: "Definitely, I would say… we are here to cooperate and make sure that happens.
"The need for Europe and the whole world to stop using fossil fuels is immense. That job must continue at a rapid pace.
"What this aggression that Russia is doing against Ukraine has shown is that we need to even further speed up this process, and if there is anything Sweden can do it is to lead by example, and show how we can be less dependent on fossil fuel in general, but specifically on Russia energy imports."
Farmanbar spoke to Sky News at a new first-of-its-kind green hydrogen storage facility, where reserves of the pressurised gas are kept in a specially sealed cavern deep underground.
The facility is part of what is known as the HYBRIT green steel project, a collaboration between the SSAB steel company, the LKAB mining company and the Vattenfall energy company.
Steel manufacturing has been notoriously hard to decarbonize because coal is burned and carbon emitted as part of the production process, but the HYBRIT project has managed to come up with a way to swap coal with green hydrogen, eliminating the dirtiest bit of the process.
"When we started doing this in 2016 it was in some cases perceived like a crazy idea but now, six years later, we've come tremendously far.’’
Mikael Nordlander, the director of industry decarbonisation at HYBRIT
Mikael Nordlander, the director of industry decarbonisation at HYBRIT, said: "When we started doing this in 2016 it was in some cases perceived like a crazy idea but now, six years later, we've come tremendously far.’’
Source: Sky News
