The Generational Goal and the Generational Contribution
Background - The Generational Goal
The Generational Goal is intended to guide environmental action at every level of society.
“The overall goal of Swedish environmental policy is to hand over to the next generation a society in which the major environmental problems in Sweden have been solved, without increasing environmental and health problems outside Sweden’s borders.”
This goal, which defines the direction of environmental policy, provides guidance regarding the values that require protection and the changes in society that are needed if an adequate level of desired environmental quality is to be achieved. This also calls for an ambitious environmental policy – in Sweden, within the EU and globally.
What the Generational Goal means in practice
A fundamental part of the Generational Goal is that the basic conditions required for solving our major environmental problems need to be achieved within one generation. This means that environmental policy should be directed towards ensuring that:
- Ecosystems have recovered, or are on their way to recovery, and their long-term capacity to generate ecosystem-services is assured.
- Biodiversity and the natural and cultural environment are conserved, promoted and used sustainably.
- Human health is subject to a minimum of adverse impacts from factors in the environment, at the same time as the positive impact of the environment on human health is promoted.
- Materials and their cycles are resource-efficient and as far as possible free from dangerous substances.
- Natural resources are managed sustainably.
- The share of renewable energy increases, and energy-use is efficient, with minimal impact on the environment.
- Patterns of consumption of goods and services cause the least possible problems for the environment and human health.
The Generational Contribution is a mechanism designed to reach the Generational Goal.
The “Generational Contribution” is a European solution that can be implemented globally and designed to solve as many interlinked crisis* as possible and has as its core the Generational Goal.
To reach the Generational Goal requires financing of measures and management activities, to increase biodiversity and secure healthy ecosystems. This is not achievable without involving the private sector.
We also need to find ways to finance the Nature Restoration Plan pursuant to the Nature Restoration Regulation. The mechanism can serve these two needs simultaneously, falling outside the tax-system, whilst plugging into the EU-system.
(* ”Five interlinked crises”, IPBES Nexus Report 2025)
The Generational Contribution is a mechanism designed to reach the Generational Goal and the Nature Restoration Plan. .
All measures and management activities under the Generational Contribution are designed by government standards and under current or emerging European Commission certification.
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