Ebba Busch, I promise to sign the agreement.

On 25 August, 1,944 researchers and employees working in the field of research wrote a debate article in Aftonbladet with the headline “Enough now politicians – take the climate crisis seriously”. In it, our politicians were urged to listen to the warnings and advice of climate research. Two weeks later, on 7 September, I – along with 226 other Swedish companies – put my name to a debate article in the same vein, also for the newspaper Aftonbladet. The headline was “Politicians, stop slowing climate change”. In it we wrote:

Climate change presents enormous opportunities for Swedish companies and their employees. So why, as politicians, do you so often see this change as a necessary evil and something to keep putting off?

And we haven’t heard a thing since. Our humble wish was and is for politicians to give companies like us a long-term plan and clear goals so that we can continue to be at the forefront and show the rest of the world that climate adaptation is possible.

A lot can be done, and many companies and industries are doing exactly that, too. They’re often going above and beyond what’s actually required by the law and regulations. Improvements and energy savings are being made for financial as well as ethical and market-related reasons.

We ourselves can state that Gnosjö Automatsvarvning’s long-term investments in self-sufficiency with self-produced electricity are now starting to bear fruit, when looked at over a long-term perspective. Already in 2020, we saw that 97 percent of our consumption was covered by self-produced energy from solar panels installed on the factory roof, our own wind turbine, and geothermal heating. This has, of course, cost money over the years. But above all, a huge amount of time and human effort has gone into applying for permits and navigating legislation, regulations and bureaucracy around the production of electricity.

We now have a new government and a Tidö agreement. The agreement states that Sweden must have an ambitious climate and environmental policy and that companies must have competitive conditions. So the question I ask myself after reading the Tidö agreement with its many good intentions is: When will I and the 226 other Swedish companies with a combined turnover of more than SEK 1,000 billion receive long-term incentives, regulations, a plan, and goals so that we can future-proof our businesses and boost our competitiveness by being the most sustainable business and industrial nation in the world?

I don’t need grants or tax credits to reduce our energy consumption and become more climate-smart. What I need are clear goals, such as an electricity price area for the whole of Sweden and a simplified regulatory system for energy self-production. Only then can I, and others in a similar position, focus on what we’re good at – sustainable production. Because I know that more industries like us want the same. If you send me that agreement, Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch, I promise to sign it by return mail. Sweden’s industry must be given the conditions to be the best in the world.

Read the whole debate article here:
https://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/a/JQbqLR/vd-lat-vara-foretag-bli-hallbara-ebba-busch

For more information, please contact:
Linda Fransson, CEO of Gnosjö Automatsvarvning, 0370-33 32 51

About Gnosjö Automatsvarvning

Gnosjö Automatsvarvning, with their 60 or so employees, have been specialists in turning complex components with the highest precision in large series since 1974. Their machines include rotary table machines, multi-spindle and CNC lathes. In 2018 they launched a three-year project to elevate innovation issues and take responsibility for driving these forwards. The initiative is based on a holistic approach with both internal process development and external customer development, as well as the online platform “Brave New Business” where they highlight bold investments, innovative solutions and innovations in the business world.