Ministry of the Environment (Sweden)


The Ministry of the Environment is a government ministry in Sweden responsible for the government's environmental policies regarding chemicals, natural environment and biological diversity.
The ministry offices are located at the old :sv:Nordiska Handelsbanken, Stockholm|Nordiska Handelsbanken building in Stockholm.

History

The ministry was founded in 1987 as the . Previously environmental issues had been handled by the Ministry of Agriculture and energy issues had been handled by the Ministry of Industry. In 1990 the short form name of was used, and energy issues transferred back to the Ministry of Industry, although supervision of nuclear energy was retained. In 1991 the ministry was renamed to the .
From 1 November 2004 to 1 January 2007, during the cabinet of Göran Persson, the ministry was known as the . The cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt — which took office on October 6, 2006 — used the short form name again, transferred energy issues to the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, and housing issues were transferred to the Ministry of Finance. In 2014, the department reverted to its original name under the newly installed cabinet of Stefan Löfven.

Areas of responsibility

The areas of responsibility are:
The ministry is headed by the Minister for Climate and the Environment, currently Karolina Skog, and Ibrahim Baylan as Minister for Energy, who are appointed by the Prime Minister. Below ministerial level, operations are directed by a State Secretary. The ministry also has a press secretary and political advisers, who work closely with the minister on policy issues.
The Ministry is divided by nine divisions and the ministry leadership.
The Ministry of the Environment and Energy is principal to the following government agencies: