Travel Journal 1: Welcome To Sweden: An Exporter Of Technological Innovation And Environmental Solutions – Cases Of Companies And Governmental Actions That Favored This Vocation

From October, our blog will present our work and impressions resulted from the visit to Sweden, which happened last September by invitation of the Swedish Trade Council. It will also present the recent visit made to Germany – Munich, particularly at a company of water treatment and environmental solutions.

Impressions: Sweden

As we said in the article “Passo a Passo 2: sustentabilidade ética, social, ambiental e financeira” (Step by Step 2: ethical, social, environmental and financial sustainability), Sweden draws the attention of those interested in the subject, since its capital, Stockholm, was elected the first European Green Capital in 2010, an initiative of the European Commission that selects each year a city that distinguishes from the others for its environmental performance.

To understand this distinction’s reason it is important to know a little more about this Nordic country, located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden shares land borders with Norway, on west, and with Finland on northeast, in addition to being connected to Denmark via the Öresund Bridge in the south. Sweden has a population of about 9 million inhabitants; most of them (85%) are in urban areas.

Its government regime is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. The monarch chief is the King Carl XVI Gustaf, and the Queen Silvia Renate Sommerlath, whose mother is Brazilian.  The heir to the Swedish monarchy is Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Västergötland, born in Stockholm, July 14th of 1977. Sweden as a country that preaches equality between people, not differing creed, race, color or sex, is proud to have a female heir to its throne. Several businesswomen manifested their sympathy for Brazil being led by a woman, which demonstrates the awareness of the importance of women’s rights in the country.

The Kingdom of Sweden has a highly developed economy. In 2010, the country ranked fourth in the world, in the Democracy Index published by The Economist, and ninth in the Human Development Index (HDI) of United Nations.

Stockholm: European Green Capital/2010

To write about Stockholm we must recognize that only words are not able to describe the stunning scenery we found. The city is an invitation to the childhood memories that put us inside a fairy tale. With fascinating urban landscapes, Stockholm has beautiful historic buildings built in a maze of small islands and coves surrounded by the Baltic Sea. The streets, which look like paintings, and the vessels on the Baltic Sea, create postcard images.

Stockholm shows us the great constructions raised in the past and also what we are able to build in times of climate changes. What is interesting in this city is the chance to experience two parallel worlds – the ancient and modern – in constant dialogue. This may be the key identity of a city that survives and lives in a constant search for harmony between technological evolution and sustainable development.

The choice to be the first European Green Capital occurred by the city’s performance on environmental issues. The great compatibility between urbanism and environment makes Stockholm a city capable to give lessons to be learned by most of the world, mainly those countries that accord with the policies and practices of sustainable development.

It is easy to list a serie of actions that are already part of everyday life in this town that is fueled by a broad coverage of bike lanes, it has 100% self-sustainable neighborhood, reuses water, transforms sunlight into energy and sewage into biogas. The government encourages companies to make eco-friendly production processes  and also encourages drivers to use a “green” fleet fed by ethanol imported from Brazil (about 40% of brazilian ethanol exports to Europe are consumed by Sweden – http://www.ruralcentro.com.br/noticias/5395/alcool-suecia-deve-importar-400-milhoes-de-litros-do-brasil-em-2008).

Over the next few months we will describe a number of good practices of Swedish companies visited, that can be repeated in Brazil with proper adaptations. Sweden is a country that exports environmental solutions and uses of knowledge and research, technology, innovation and investments to accomplish now what we are eager to achieve.