Interest from national and international politicians surrounding what we do is of course incredibly valuable to us as a company

What a day we had at Stockholm Exergi last week! It has taken a while to collect my thoughts after the visit from the Swedish government and the European Parliament in connection with the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents. When things began to settle, I stopped for a moment and thought: “This is actually fantastic!” The fact is that the entire Swedish government and several EU politicians were here at Värtaverket, and were curious about we do and fascinated by the technological opportunities it offered. They also expressed that what we are doing as a company is significant for the climate. That we are securing this interest from national and international politicians is of course incredibly valuable for us as a company – and also very enjoyable!

Everything starts with all the employees here at Stockholm Exergi. Without everyone’s daily engagement and hard work, we would not have been able to achieve what we have or evoked the curiosity of the world around us. I am also impressed by the fact that we managed to put together this international event while showing such strength and a positive attitude. To my knowledge, this is the first time a single company has ever been visited by the entire government, so we should all be very proud. I would also like to say a big thank you to the employees who worked at home during the visit as, for security reasons, we were unable to have all our staff on site.

The Swedish government’s commitment to carbon capture is something I want to highlight following the visit. The government has expressed its support for both bioenergy and our BECCS initiative, not just in the budget but also in many of their speeches. This support is invaluable for us and for Sweden to keep in mind ahead of an investment decision.

The important work to enable an investment decision around the turn of the year 2023/2024 in order to get a full-scale BECCS facility in place in 2026 continues. Sustainable biomass and negative emissions are important components of Sweden’s achievement of its climate goals and transformation into a large-scale export nation of negative emissions. We can’t solve this puzzle ourselves, rather we need to work with other companies and above all regulators and governments to get all the pieces in place. The new leadership consists of collaboration and partnership.

Negative emissions are not just a concern for Stockholm Exergi. There are enormous opportunities for Sweden as a whole to scale up this investment, which can result in the capture of more than 30 million tons of carbon dioxide, over 28,000 direct and indirect job opportunities and a contribution to Sweden’s economy in the form of an additional SEK 24 billion to its gross domestic product (GDP). This is an endeavor that will impact Sweden’s, Europe’s and the world’s climate efforts.

Looking back at the attention that we as a company have received over the past year, it is clear that we are indeed a market leader in some areas, but it is not these visits themselves that have made us a market leader. It is everyone’s amazing commitment and work to push Stockholm Exergi forward every day of the year, taking small but important steps that have brought us to where we are today. And it is exactly this work that will determine whether we will remain in this position in the years to come.

Last week cannot be summarized by the visit alone. It also involved providing staff with new computers and phones, a planned change that, as expected, left many people struggling with connectivity and caused a lot of disruption – after all, this kind of change does not happen smoothly. But my overall impression was that everyone was both understanding and patient and, thanks to good self-leadership, rose to the challenge of making this work. And the support from IT has been great – thank you. This is also an area where, through much commitment and hard work, we will be able to initiate a larger change that, over time, will move the company forward and contribute to our market leading position.

After a week like last week, one has to take some time to enjoy the moment. I myself am quite poor at this, but managed to do so this past weekend. On Monday however, we were back at work again to get a full-scale BECCS facility in place by 2026.

Anders Egelrud