Sweden has again been highlighted as a pioneer for sustainability. Sweden’s tax reductions for repairs is a finalist for the INDEX: Award, one of the world’s largest design competitions which rewards design that promotes sustainability.

The amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans is increasing exponentially. Adventurer and diver Oskar Kihlborg is one of the activists trying to help reverse the trend.

Resistance to women’s, girls’ and young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health and rights has increased, write Margot Wallström, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Isabella Lövin, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate.

Meet the Global Swedes: Mohammed Ghaith Altarabichi, Syria, student at Kristianstad University Sweden.

Meet the Global Swedes: Getnet Mengesha Asrat, Ethiopia, student at Dalarna University.

Meat the Global Swedes: Adina Khamitova from Kazakhstan is one of the students presented with the Global Swede award.

The new wastewater treatment plant in Kaliningrad, which was co-financed by Sweden, represents an important step towards improving water quality in the Baltic Sea. This is because the wastewater from Kaliningrad’s close to half a million inhabitants has for many years run straight out into the Baltic Sea untreated.

At midnight last Sunday, Ukrainian citizens could for the first time ever travel to the 30 countries of the Schengen Zone without a visa. This is a forceful reminder of one of the most poignant slogans of Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity, namely that “Ukraine is Europe”.

Today, 8 June, is World Oceans Day, and marine issues have never been higher on the agenda. Tomorrow marks the end of the UN Ocean Conference, where many countries and stakeholders have gathered to reverse the cycle of ocean decline.