Hemming Andreas Carlgren (born 8 July 1958) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and a former

Minister for the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of an ...

in the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister ...

Education and career

Andreas Carlgren was born in Västra Ryd,

Upplands-Bro Municipality Upplands-Bro Municipality (''Upplands-Bro kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Kungsängen. The municipality was formed in 1952 through the amalgamation of five rural municipa ...

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stoc ...

. From 1981 and 1983 he studied at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, s ...

to pursue teaching. He then worked as chairman of the

Centre Party Youth The Centre Party Youth ( sv, Centerpartiets ungdomsförbund ; CUF) is the youth organization of the Centre Party in Sweden and is a liberal, green and market liberal The term market liberalism is used in two distinct ways. In the United Sta ...

from 1984 to 1987. From 1987 to 1990 he worked as a teacher, followed by employment at M-gruppen, a training company, to work on environmental development programmes for businesses, including environmental audits. From 1990 to 1994 he served as deputy mayor of

Ekerö Municipality Ekerö Municipality ( sv, Ekerö kommun) is a municipality in the province of Uppland in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. The name derives from the name of the main island within the municipality whose name is Ekerön, and literally means ...

, with special responsibility for childcare and schools. From 1994 to 1998 he was elected as a member of the

parliament of Sweden The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and s ...

. In the parliament he was a member of the

Committee on Education (Parliamentary) Committee on Education ( sv, utbildningsutskottet) (UbU) is a parliamentary committee in the Swedish Riksdag. The committee's areas of responsibility concern School, Preschool, Higher education, Research on Education, along wit ...

. In addition, Carlgren served as second deputy chairman of the Centre Party from 1992 to 1998 and as first deputy chairman from 1998 to 2000. In 2000 Carlgren was appointed as

director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the Swedish Integration Board. Following the 2006 general election he was appointed as

in the new centre-right cabinet. One of the main issues that he has to handle as Minister for the Environment is the issue of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...

. On September 29, 2011, he was succeeded as Minister for the Environment by

Lena Ek Lena Ek (born 16 January 1958 in Mönsterås, Kalmar County) is a Swedish politician who served as Minister for the Environment from 2011 to 2014. She is a former Member of the European Parliament and Member of the Riksdag. She is a member of th ...

, who had served as

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

for the Centre Party since 2004. With 4 years and 358 days in office, he is the longest-serving Minister for the Environment. Carlgren is vice-chair of the

Stockholm Environment Institute The Stockholm Environment Institute, or SEI, is a non-profit, independent research and policy institute specialising in sustainable development and environmental issues, with seven affiliate offices around the world. SEI works on climate chang ...

Board. Carlgren has been on the SEI board since 1 January 2012.

Personal life

In the late 1990s Carlgren divorced, publicly declared that he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, and subsequently entered into a

registered partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriag ...

with his new partner. He is the first openly gay Swedish cabinet minister. Carlgren has three children from his previous marriage.

References

External links

Andreas Carlgren
at the

Government Offices of Sweden Rosenbad (, lit. "rosen bath") is a building in central Stockholm, precinct of Norrmalm. It is a building owned by the Swedish State and serves as the seat of the Government. The present government of Sweden is the right-leaning Kristersson Ca ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlgren, Andreas 1958 births Living people Swedish educators Swedish Roman Catholics People from Upplands-Bro Municipality Waldorf school alumni Stockholm University alumni Members of the Riksdag from the Centre Party (Sweden) Swedish Ministers for the Environment Swedish gay men Swedish LGBT politicians Gay politicians