How Sweden is working on climate adaptation

The local level – local authorities

Many of a local authority’s activities are affected by climate change. Changes in groundwater levels, for example, can affect the supply of drinking water in the area. Another example is the emergency services, which must be prepared for an increase in weather-related incidents and natural disasters.

Local authorities are also responsible for planning permission, environmental monitoring and other matters. By law, local authorities must set out in their comprehensive plans the risks of climate change causing damage to buildings within the municipality. The plan must also specify how these risks can be mitigated.

The regional level – county administrative boards

The county administrative boards are responsible for monitoring the municipalities’ work on climate adaptation. They must also initiate and support the municipalities’ climate adaptation work.

The county administrative boards also play an important role in coordinating climate adaptation work within the county and across municipal boundaries. Among other things, they must ensure that climate adaptation measures in one municipality do not cause problems in another. This may, for example, concern flood risks in a catchment area, which often extends across larger areas.

The national level

The Riksdag and the Government

These are the highest decision-making bodies in Sweden and determine the laws and regulations governing climate adaptation in Sweden.

• The Riksdag has adopted a national strategy for climate adaptation. The aim is to strengthen long-term climate adaptation work in Sweden and the national coordination of climate adaptation.
• Regulation (2018:1428) governs the work on climate adaptation carried out by 32 government agencies and all 21 county administrative boards.
• The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) has been tasked by the Government with coordinating and supporting the authorities’ work on climate adaptation.
• There are many laws that directly or indirectly affect climate adaptation in Sweden. The most prominent are the Planning and Building Act and the Environmental Code.
• The Government has also given the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) a specific mandate to coordinate national climate adaptation efforts for the built environment.

Government agencies

Government agencies with designated responsibility for climate adaptation are to provide support and assistance within their respective area or sector. For example, the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the Swedish Forest Agency are to support climate adaptation within the agricultural and forestry sectors respectively. The Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency shall enhance society’s preparedness for climate-related disasters and crises such as forest fires and floods, whilst the Public Health Agency of Sweden examines how climate change affects people’s health.

The Swedish Expert Council on Climate Adaptation

The Government has appointed a special council to review and evaluate climate adaptation work in Sweden. The council is affiliated with the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). Every five years, the council is to produce a report containing, amongst other things, proposals for the continued work on climate adaptation in Sweden. The first report was submitted to the Government in February 2022.

The Swedish Expert Council on Climate Adaptation has its own website.