Erika Bjerström is a Swedish journalist who for many years worked at Sveriges Television (SVT) and until 2024 was SVT’s global climate correspondent.
In Dagens industri, which is supposedly a newspaper aimed at the business sector, she has been allowed to publish a commentary in which she claims that the best way to change men’s climate behaviour is to hit their wallets. Bjerström writes:
“White men have a more negative impact on the climate than women. Their travel habits and higher meat consumption are harmful to the planet. A majority vote for the Right. In addition, many men do not care about the climate crisis. For women, the situation is different. A majority vote red-green. They live in a more environmentally friendly way and engage in environmental issues. Why do we women take on this responsibility?”
In the commentary, Bjerström argues that men as a group place a greater burden on the climate than women, among other things through greater meat consumption and more driving.
But the reasoning does not stop there.
“Men have historically regarded themselves as standing above both nature and women”, Bjerström claims.
She also links the climate question to voting behaviour and points out that women to a greater extent vote red-green, while men to a greater extent support right-wing parties.
“What is the reason for this? One answer is that women traditionally take responsibility for others, for care, welfare and human relations”, Bjerström writes by way of explanation.
At the end of the commentary, Bjerström presents a proposal in which the wallet becomes the tool for solving the global climate crisis.
“The solution is to go through what perhaps appeals most to rich white men – the wallet”, Bjerström writes.
She likes a proposal from the British New Economics Foundation concerning individual CO2 quotas for each person linked to credit cards.
“When the meat-eating man intends to jump on the next flight to Barcelona for a weekend trip (again), the card lights up red with the text ‘transaction denied’”, Bjerström writes in the commentary.
If the climate budget were exceeded, he would then, through personal carbon trading, be able to purchase emission rights from someone who had consumed less, for example from a female vegan.
“He would then be allowed to buy CO2 credits from the person who has not utilised her quota, probably a female nurse who has not been able to afford to travel abroad on holiday for many years”, Erika Bjerström writes.
Frykten for en klimakrise får svenske kvinner til å unngå å føde barn
A Swedish survey from early 2026 shows that one in five young women is considering refraining from having children because of the climate crisis. And almost four out of ten young women are themselves considering, or know someone who is considering, choosing not to have children because of the climate crisis. Klara, 28, has a good job and housing, but the climate crisis makes her completely certain that she will never have children.
In a commentary in NRK, Audrey Plyler, adviser at the Rainforest Foundation, writes that a ban on meat advertising must be introduced in order to save the climate.