STOCKHOLM — Sweden's high-flying far right has been burned by the country's blazing hot summer.

After months of localized droughts, forest fires and record temperatures across the country, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson took to the stage in mid-August to attack his opponents’ concerns about rising temperatures. He accused them of trying to score cheap points off the heatwave.

“To make politics out of one summer’s weather is simply not serious, it is the worst sort of populism,” said the Sweden Democrats' leader.

His opponents were quick to respond — and their counterattack seems to be working.

Green Party joint leader Isabella Lövin said by making light of climate change, Åkesson is trying to play down what she called "humanity's biggest challenge."

“If we pass 2 degrees, we risk pressing a button that makes it totally irreversible and that we then move beyond a point where we can turn back” — Johan Rockström, Swedish scientist

The most recent polling suggests voters agree the concerns shouldn’t be laughed off.

After much of the country saw its warmest ever summer, the environment has risen sharply in importance for voters and Åkesson’s decision to throw a spotlight on the sharp contrast between the Sweden Democrats and the Greens may have helped the latter.

The Green Party, the junior partner in the current minority government, has seen a much-needed last-minute boost, rising to 6.1 percent from 4 percent earlier in the summer, according to the pollster Sifo. Meanwhile, the Sweden Democrats' rise has lost some momentum.

The Greens' recent upturn could be decisive for the overall election, if it means they clear the 4 percent threshold for entry into parliament. That would give current Prime Minister Stefan Löfven a much better chance of staying in power, as the Greens had faced the real prospect of losing all their seats in parliament.

Their most recent loss of momentum aside, the Sweden Democrats have been on a long-running surge in the polls ahead of Sunday's election, with surveys consistently ranking them in second place with voters. They are unlikely to be part of the next government, but look set to become a stronger voice in parliament.

The party has succeeded in turning the overall campaign toward questions where its views resonate with voters, particularly immigration, and law and order, analysts say.

Moving the debate to the environment could be a rare misstep by Åkesson and he may have helped the Greens, a party he has often criticized.

'Doomsday' scenarios

Elected to a first-ever term in government in 2014, the Green Party has pushed Sweden toward ambitious climate goals. Sweden is targeting a fossil fuel-free vehicle fleet by 2030 and a net zero greenhouse gas production by 2050.

The Greens’ message on posters all over Stockholm is “Now. The climate can’t wait.”

The Sweden Democrats, on the other hand, are promising price cuts on petrol.

The clash shows how divided the debate over climate change remains, even in an environmentally conscious society like Sweden. It suggests much work remains to be done to galvanize public opinion behind measures that the vast majority of climate experts say will be needed to prevent catastrophic climate change.

In a report published in August, scientists suggest the planet may be approaching a threshold that could lock it into a rapid pathway toward much hotter conditions, which they refer to as “hothouse Earth.”

The scientists, including the Swede Johan Rockström, suggest more than 2 degrees of global warming could trigger a domino effect we won’t be able to stop.

“If we pass 2 degrees, we risk pressing a button that makes it totally irreversible and that we then move beyond a point where we can turn back,” he said in an interview with Swedish daily Expressen.

The Sweden Democrats opposed Sweden’s ambitious emissions targets.

Still, on the streets of Stockholm, Sweden Democrat leader Åkesson’s take appeared to have support among his party’s grassroots.

“I get where he is coming from,” said Alvin Wester, a 30-year-old party activist who was out campaigning for the Sweden Democrats in central Stockholm this week. “There are so many other things we need to deal with before we get around to climate, the other parties go too far with their doomsday scenarios.”

Extreme weather

The Sweden Democrats acknowledge the link between human activity and climate change, but the party's representatives are quick to point out that much is unknown and, that being the case, policy should be formed with caution.

The party's stance is also that as Sweden is such a small producer of emissions in a global context, it should focus on trying to get larger global emitters to make changes rather than making changes at home that might damage the economy. This contrasts with the current center-left government, which wants Sweden to remain a global example on emissions cuts.

“The current government’s policies really aren’t working,” the Sweden Democrats' spokesman on the environment, Martin Kinnunen, said in an interview. “They aren’t combating climate change on a global level, they are just looking at Sweden as if it is an isolated country under a dome.”

The Sweden Democrats oppose Sweden’s ambitious emissions targets.

The party has also said it would cut resources for Sweden’s state meteorological institute SMHI, a position that Gustav Fridolin, the joint Green Party leader, has criticized.

“When it comes down to it, the Sweden Democrats are a party that wants to cut resources for those authorities which tell us about what is happening with climate change,” he said.

Climate scientist Rockström also criticized Åkesson’s speech.

“We are experiencing the most extreme weather events ever observed in Sweden and scientifically we know that this is strengthened by global warming,” he said. “To call that populism is extremely unfortunate … it is damaging.”