Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

One of the leading companies in the production of green batteries in Europe and Sweden recently suffered a major budgetary crisis. The crisis threatened the survival of the company and became a political problem due to previous state funding. The Swedish government and its collaboration party, Sverigedemokraterna, denied responsibility in saving the company. The purpose of the study is to examine how the political elite framed the event, and how this could affect the green transition. The focus of the study resides in the framing of the event, how the actors managed the accountability contest, and its potential implications for the green transition. The study utilizes theories of framing, political blame games, and crisis exploitation. The study shows that while the government collaboration had the same view of the company's survival, they differed in both framing and strategies in the accountability contest. The government mostly tried to avoid blame and responsibility, whereas Sverigedemokraterna blamed both the previous and current government for making naïve decisions. Sverigedemokraterna exploited the crisis in an attempt to stop state funding of the green transition. Consequently, the green transition could see some change if the parties were to agree on Sverigedemokraterna's framing. The government also blamed the European Union for deficiency in politics and policy in regard to the production of green batteries, but whether or not they will push for a change remains a question for further research.