Hero or villain? A carbon critic relies on coal

With rising oil prices and the closure of several nuclear power plants, coal has become more important for the German energy supply. Coal is also, as Josefsson points out, a cheap source of energy, which means that it is highly profitable.

But the German acquisitions also mean that Vattenfall has gone from being a negligible emitter of carbon dioxide – its production units in Sweden are mainly nuclear and hydroelectric, and “vattenfall” means “waterfall” in Swedish – to emitting about 80 million tons per year, making the company one of the Continent’s biggest polluters. When the World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF, recently published its list of the “Dirty Thirty,” Europe’s 30 most polluting power plants, Vattenfall was listed as the owner of four.
At the same time, Josefsson has become something of a corporate prophet on the dangers of global warming. He has lobbied heavily for a global emissions cap and a global trading system for carbon dioxide. He also founded the 3C Initiative, under which 40 of the world’s biggest companies, including General Electric, Suez, Tata Power and Lufthansa, have agreed on principles to create a “low-emitting society.”

In December, Merkel appointed him as climate adviser to the German government, to help advance energy policy issues during the current German presidency of the European Union and the Group of Eight industrialized countries.

As both a high-volume producer and a high-profile critic of carbon emissions, Josefsson is clearly aware that he is sticking his neck out. But he is adamant that the two positions do not contradict each other.

“The biggest contribution we can do for the environment is to do exactly what we’re doing,” he said, sitting in a conference room in Vattenfall’s unassuming Stockholm office, just back from a tour of European capitals. “By using technology, we can make sure that the damage to the atmosphere is as small as possible.”

International Herald Tribune