Norrbotten Region and LKAB set the stage in Almedalen
As Almedalen Week makes its new premiere in Visby after a couple of years of hiatus, Norra scen is now being launched – an arena for the green transition that is about to shift the center of national development north. The initiative is a joint initiative from Region Norrbotten and LKAB, and the first of its kind during the politicians' week.
– Courageous company managements have decided on gigantic investments in green transition in Norrbotten. Now it is important to make this possible and that society and government realize the importance of public investments in both energy and infrastructure as well as public services and culture, says Nils-Olov Lindfors (C), regional councilor at Region Norrbotten.
Norra scen is a joint initiative of Region Norrbotten and the mining company LKAB. Together with a wide range of actors with connections to the region such as Luleå University of Technology (LTU), North Sweden European Office, Swedish Space Corporation, Luleå Municipality Norrbotniabanan and the industry organization Svemin, a common arena is being created for discussions about the green industrial transition, societal development and related competence challenges.
Participants include Jan Moström, President and CEO of LKAB, Anna Borg, President and CEO of Vattenfall, Johan Rockström, professor of environmental science at Stockholm University and head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Svante Axelsson, national coordinator of Fossil-Free Sweden.
– We are in the midst of the biggest transformation that industry and society have undergone in the last hundred years. It creates opportunities for us in the North, for Sweden and for the world. But that requires action and courageous decisions, also from politics. Together, we must roll up our sleeves to solve the challenges that remain, says Jan Moström, CEO, LKAB.
Over the coming decades, hundreds of billions are planned to be invested in northern Sweden, and the population of the country's most sparsely populated county is expected to increase by tens of thousands of people. The program for Norra scen includes a number of the challenges that the region and Sweden will have to deal with in the coming years:
- How we manage to implement the largest transition in modern history with doubled electricity production and fast and safe environmental and permit tests.
- How do we survive the growing pains and create housing and sustainable social development at all levels?
- How do we fix the skills challenge of the century and get thousands of new Northerners to come and stay in the region?
The discussions at Norra Scen will feature business leaders, current and former politicians, general managers, regional and municipal politicians and a number of leading experts and decision-makers in the fields of climate, environment, recruitment and community development. LKAB is represented by CEO Jan Moström and Region Norrbotten by regional councilors Kenneth Backgård and Nils-Olov Lindfors as well as development director Janus Brandin. The full program is available at evtångnorrbotten.se/almedalen where the seminars will also be livestreamed, as well as on the website Almedalen Play.
Here you will find the program for Norrbotten in Almedalen
Read more about Norrbotten in Almedalen
Want to know more?
Welcome to contact Nils-Olov Lindfors (C), regional councilor, Norrbotten Region or Anders Lindberg, press manager, LKAB.
nils-olov.lindfors@norrbotten.se, 070-380 00 44
anders.lindberg@lkab.com, 072-717 83 55