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Sweden’s right-wing government said Tuesday it would scrap a tax on flights for travellers, citing the need to promote domestic air travel, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from environmental groups.

The tax, which varies depending on the distance of the flight, was introduced by the previous left-wing government in 2018 as a deterrent to reducing the climate impact of air flights.

“If we want to protect the possibility of having good air connections in Sweden and Sweden as an international hub… we have to make sure that we do not discriminate against the competitive advantages that Sweden can have,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference.

“This is in line with both long-term climate policy… and protecting travel opportunities in our elongated country,” Kristersson added.

Speaking alongside Kristersson, Energy Minister Ebba Busch stressed that “a minority of countries in the EU have an aviation tax”.

The coalition government, supported by the far-right Sweden Democrats, had previously considered cutting the tax by half.

However, on Tuesday it was announced that the tax will be abolished completely from July 1, 2025.

Environmental groups warned that scrapping the tax would lead to more air travel and emissions.

“This is completely upside down and the government is completely abandoning climate policy,” Daniel Kihlberg, climate director at the Swedish Society for the Conservation of Nature, told Aftonbladet newspaper after the announcement.

The government’s climate policy has been criticised in the past.

In March, the Swedish Climate Policy Council – an expert panel tasked with reviewing government policy – ​​said measures such as lower fuel taxes were threatening climate ambitions and regretted the lack of concrete action in the government’s environmental policy.

The council said in a report that the government’s policies “will result in increased emissions and will not lead to meeting Sweden’s climate goals and EU commitments for 2030.”

Global aviation is responsible for about 2.5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, an amount larger than the annual carbon footprint of Brazil and France combined.

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