Betraying the Environment in a Changing International Order: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Climate Policy in Sweden

Sammanfattning

Long recognized as a global climate leader, Sweden has in recent years experienced significant regression across multiple areas of climate policy. Since taking office in 2022, the Swedish government has enacted policies that stand in stark contrast to its electoral pledges, employing strategies that raise questions about the underlying motives and objectives of its climate agenda. This study examines the ideological and discursive patterns embedded within the Swedish Government’s Climate Policy Action Plan (CPAP). In doing so, it demonstrates how dominant frameworks constrain possibilities for ecological sustainability and climate transformation. Using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study conducts a comprehensive analysis of how climate policy is constructed linguistically, reproduced through political and institutional practices, and situated within broader ideological and socio-economic structures. Drawing on capitalist realism and political realism, informed by a neo-Marxist ideology critique, particular attention is given to how discourses surrounding economic growth, national sovereignty, securitization, and technological managerialism shape the boundaries of legitimate climate action while marginalizing post-growth and structurally transformative alternatives. The findings reveal that Sweden’s climate discourse reproduces capitalist and growth-oriented logics while systematically excluding alternative perspectives. Ultimately, the CPAP functions not as a framework for ecological transformation, but as a mechanism for maintaining market competitiveness and state stability, thereby exposing the profound ideological limitations inherent in Sweden's green transition.