Sustainability the Swedish Way
Climate, environment and energy issues was Sweden’s main priorities during its presidency of the EU in 2009. The Swedish Institute is concentrating its efforts in the sustainable development field in a special project, Facing the Future – Sustainability the Swedish Way.
Sustainability is one of the four focus areas that SI is working with to heighten impact abroad and link activities to areas where Sweden is particularly strong at present. The project emphasizes Sweden’s unique expertise in such spheres as CSR, urban planning, energy, sustainable design, water, and environment issues. The Facing the Future events and activities will be organized by the Swedish Institute in 2008–2010 in collaboration with Swedish embassies abroad and local partners.
Via exhibitions, seminars, publications, fact sheets, journalists’ visits and information posted at Sweden.se, the project will reach out to actors in the cultural field, public life, the university and research community, and the business world.
Facing the Future - publication
In SI’s publication Facing the Future readers encounter informed and committed Swedes working with sustainable development in one way or another. Written by Eva Krutmeijer, Facing the Future was published in an English and a Chinese version in 2008 and in German and French in 2009.
Visual Voltage – exhibition
In collaboration with the Interactive Institute, SI has produced Visual Voltage, an art and design exhibition offering an alternative to our present energy-guzzling lifestyle. It opened on 21 October 2008 in Shanghai, at Creation Expo's trade fair focusing on the future. Visual Voltage then went on tour to Beijing, Tokyo, London, Brussels, Berlin and Paris. For more information, please see Visualvoltage.se.
Eco Chic – exhibition
The exhibition Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion shows clothes from Swedish fashion designers such as Nudie, Camilla Norrback and Julian Red, all of whom are developing ecological and ethical fashion alternatives. The exhibition was inaugurated in Belgrade in November 2008 and was then shown in Minsk, Kiev, Riga, Istanbul and Berlin. In 2010 it will move on to New York.
Among the project collaborators is the Swedish Trade Council venture SymbioCity, see Symbiocity.org.
For more information, please contact:
Birgitta Tennander, Project Manager and Coordinator, 
, +46 (0)8-453 79 20.
Anna Maria Bernitz, Project Manager (Exhibitions), 
, +46 (0)8-453 79 13.
The publication Facing the Future and other information material on the subject of sustainable development may be ordered at Swedenbookshop.com.