A government-commissioned inquiry has proposed that Swedish municipalities should have the power to require property owners to contribute financially to local climate change measures, including costly flood protection.
The recommendations, presented by climate adaptation investigator Johan Hjalmarsson to Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari of the Liberals, would allow municipalities to build protective infrastructure such as sea walls or dams and charge property owners who benefit directly from the protection.
However, the measures would only be allowed if there is a “significant risk” of property damage from a natural event, and if the intervention meaningfully reduces said risk.
As reported by Aftonbladet, local governments would be permitted to recover up to half of the total project costs from property owners, but no individual would be charged more than 10 percent of their property’s market value. This could still result in substantial fees for some homeowners. In one example from Arvika, where the municipality built three dams for SEK 140 million (€12.8 million) to guard against flooding, the model suggests that SEK 70 million could have been charged to local property owners. For some individuals, this could amount to a personal bill of around SEK 800,000 (€73,400).
“These are amounts that many households do not have available,” the investigator wrote. He added that the proposal assumes municipalities would allow installment payments and that banks might be willing to offer loans using the now less vulnerable property as collateral.
The inquiry also calls for the introduction of a new law on state coastal protection. Under this law, the Swedish government would be able to designate specific coastal areas as nationally significant and take over responsibility for safeguarding them against flooding. This would include the construction of large-scale physical barriers, with costs covered by the state rather than individual municipalities.
Another part of the proposal focuses on indoor temperatures in the context of what he says are increasingly frequent heatwaves. The inquiry recommends setting legal limits on indoor temperatures in elderly care homes, as well as housing for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses.
Current guidelines from the Public Health Agency of Sweden are deemed insufficient in light of the intensifying effects of climate change, with heatwaves of over 30 degrees Celsius expected to become more common.
To comply with future indoor temperature standards, municipalities and care providers may need to invest in air conditioning systems and other cooling measures, the report notes.
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