Campaigners, unions and civic groups joined Sunday’s march as organisers warned Sweden’s current policies could weaken emissions targets and urged faster cuts after a summer of European heatwaves.
Around 10,000 people marched through Stockholm on Sunday to demand stronger action on human-made climate change, weeks before Sweden holds a general election in which climate is among voters’ leading concerns.
The demonstration in the Swedish capital on August 23, 2026 drew climate campaigners including Greta Thunberg as protesters criticised government policies they say threaten the country’s emissions-reduction targets.
“We are so many people who are concerned about this problem,” said Kliff Lindberg, a 21-year-old student who said he was “relieved” by the size of the turnout.
“That gives me a lot of strength and it’s beautiful to see, I think.”
Experts in Sweden and abroad have warned that the government’s climate policies risk undermining the country’s targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions from transport by 70 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2045.
Since taking office in 2022, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has reduced petrol taxes and eased requirements for petrol suppliers to include low-carbon alternatives in their fuel mix.
The government has also rejected recommendations from a commission on how Sweden could meet its 2030 target, including a proposal to phase out fossil fuels by raising taxes on petrol and diesel.
Swedes are due to elect a new parliament on September 13, with the right-wing bloc trailing in opinion polls.
The Stockholm demonstration brought together youth and sporting groups, unions, rural associations and rights groups. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation organised the protest together with Rebel Moms, Rebel Dads and Researchers Desk.
Thunberg, Sweden’s best-known climate campaigner, said none of the country’s political parties was proposing policies matching what climate science demanded.
“There is absolutely no party in Sweden who are even proposing politics in line with anything close to what science says will take for us to avoid a climate disaster,” Thunberg told AFP.
“If we continue like now we will see collapse, we are already seeing collapse,” she said.
Climate has emerged as a major issue for voters ahead of the election. A Verian opinion poll published by public broadcaster SVT on Thursday found that 37 percent of respondents considered climate a top priority in the election.
The government has argued that Sweden must phase out fossil fuels gradually to preserve and strengthen the country’s competitiveness and its companies.
Organisers of Sunday’s demonstration, however, said faster action was necessary.
“The climate crisis is very real, and it is here,” said Beatrice Rindevall, head of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which co-organised the demonstration.
“It is time to put in place a climate policy that reduces emissions right now,” she said in a statement, pointing to the devastating heatwaves that struck Europe this summer.
