Kjell Larsson

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Kjell Larsson (26 March 1943 – 21 December 2002) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician who served as Minister of the Environment from 1998 to 2000 under Prime Minister Göran Persson.

Born in Gothenburg, his father was a construction worker. He started his career as secretary of the Swedish Construction Workers’ Union in 1967 and joined the Social Democratic Party in 1970. He worked as an analyst on the party’s national board, and from 1973 to 1976 he was political adviser to Olof Palme. In 1976 he became Palme’s speech writer and general political adviser. From 1980 to 1982 he headed ARE, the party’s advertising company. In 1982 he was appointed state secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson. In 1996 he became director-general of the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board, and in 1998 he was appointed environment minister.

In April 2001, Larsson visited U.S. President George W. Bush with other Swedish leaders to urge approval of the Kyoto climate agreement, but the effort was not successful. He also served as the head of the Table Tennis Association.

Larsson retired from politics in September 2002 due to illness and was succeeded as environment minister by Lena Sommestad. He died in Stockholm on 21 December 2002, at the age of 59, from cancer. He is survived by three children.