OPEN LETTER FROM THE SWEDISH OFFICIAL NON-NEGOTIATING DELEGATION TO COP31
Making NDCs Investable
Electrification, decarbonised industry and resilient infrastructure
Prepared by Business Sweden, The Swedish Trade & Invest Council
During Climate Week New York 2026, Business Sweden hosted a roundtable together with Sweden’s Climate Ambassador Mattias Frumerie and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York. Participants included leaders from Swedish companies, government entities, financial institutions, and international organisations. This letter aims to share participants’ reflections with the COP31 Presidency and outlines what business actors consider to be a useful outcome from COP31.
The discussion focused on how to turn country-owned NDCs into integrated national or regional implementation pathways across priority sectors. This requires alignment between demand, enabling infrastructure, project portfolios, finance, technology, and delivery partners. Participants highlighted weak demand signals, policy uncertainty, infrastructure bottlenecks, and finance not matching project needs as key barriers to deployment.
It was noted that the COP31 outcome is a reflection not only of the negotiations, but also the reports of the "Belém Mission to 1.5", the Global Implementation Accelerator, the two COP30 Presidency roadmap reports, as well as the Action Agenda as a whole.
The COP31 Presidency was therefore encouraged to advance five implementation priorities, working inter alia through the negotiations and the Delivery Packages on electrification and green industrialisation, while mapping existing initiatives to avoid duplication. The COP31 Presidency was also encouraged to reflect the five implementation priorities in relevant COP31 outcomes. Taken together, the five priorities can provide markets with the signals necessary to accelerate investment and deployment of solutions globally. The COP31 Presidency was further encouraged to report progress on the five priorities for consideration by Parties at COP32.
Five implementation priorities for the COP31 Presidency
- Scale electrification through integrated delivery packages
Use the Climate Implementation Bridge to identify a small number of integrated country- or regional-level project pipelines across priority sectors. These should connect clean generation, grids, storage, industrial conversion, transport demand, charging, ports and rail, permitting, workforce needs, and finance. Convene governments, financiers, utilities, technology providers, industry, and local delivery partners around named owners, project horizons, and measurable next steps. - Create lead markets for low-carbon industrial products
Advance common principles for predictable carbon pricing signals, public procurement, product standards, interoperable emissions accounting, and long-term offtake for green steel, low-carbon cement, and other materials. Coordinated demand should give producers and buyers the confidence needed to make final investment and purchasing decisions. It should reward, rather than disadvantage, early movers. The Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT), the Climate Club, and the First Movers Coalition (amongst others) were seen as useful platforms to build on. - Treat efficiency, recovered energy and resource efficiency as infrastructure priorities
Recognise energy efficiency as a core infrastructure resource alongside generation, grids and storage, and integrate energy efficiency, industrial heat recovery, sustainable heating and cooling, circularity and asset-life extension into clean-energy and green-industrialisation pathways. Aggregate smaller projects into investable portfolios and embed these approaches in planning to reduce infrastructure needs, strengthen resilience, lower lifecycle emissions and ease pressure on constrained grids. - Build integrated heavy-duty transport corridors
The COP31 outcome was suggested to invite Parties to develop national roadmaps that align vehicle and freight demand, charging, grid connections, logistics nodes, ports and rail, permitting, and finance. Include measures that narrow the cost gap between electrified and fossil fuel-based alternatives, particularly for smaller operators. These measures can help demonstrate how the 35% ambition could be operationalised. - Match finance to the precise barriers
Ensure that fit-for-purpose finance is a core function of the Climate Implementation Bridge: identify country-owned project portfolios across priority sectors; assess the policy, preparation, revenue, currency, technology, governance, or infrastructure barriers affecting each portfolio; and match it with the appropriate partners and instruments. This may include blended finance, guarantees, export finance, risk-sharing mechanisms, technical assistance, or project-preparation support.
Swedish contributions and next steps
Participating Swedish companies bring capabilities in advanced grids, industrial electrification, decarbonised steel, medium- and heavy-duty transport, energy efficiency, industrial heat recovery, and sustainable heating and cooling. Together with government, finance, and implementation partners, they can support project development, financing partnerships, technology deployment, and delivery models adapted to country priorities.
We look forward to working with the COP31 Presidency, the incoming COP32 Presidency, the High-Level Champions, and the UNFCCC Secretariat to develop a small number of pathways with named owners, measurable implementation priorities, and follow-up through and beyond COP31. This work could build on the suggestions outlined above for the COP31 outcome.
Signed by:
Emma Modéer Wiking, Global Head of International Sustainable Business, Business Sweden, and Head of the Swedish Official Non-Negotiating Delegation to COP
Supported by the following companies that participated in the Climate Week New York roundtable:
- Alfa Laval
- Hitachi Energy
- Investor AB
- Munters
- SKF
- SSAB
- Scania / TRATON GROUP
About the Swedish Official Non-Negotiating Delegation to COP31
The Swedish Official Non-Negotiating Delegation to COP31 brings together representatives from business, government agencies and other organisations working to advance climate implementation and international collaboration.
Delegation members: Adapteo, AFRY, Alfa Laval, AstraZeneca, Atlas Copco, Business Sweden, ClimateView, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, EQT, Hitachi Energy, Inter IKEA, Investor, Munters, Myllium, Oatly, Scania, Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), SKF, SSAB, Swedish Energy Agency, Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board (EKN), Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK), Tetra Pak, TRATON GROUP, Volvo Group and Wallenberg Investments.
