An inquiry has proposed passing the cost of expensive climate change measures onto Swedish homeowners.
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).