It's about time: Governing through acceleration under the critical raw materials act in Sweden

• Examines Sweden’s mineral politics under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. • Analyses how urgency and speed shape environmental and mineral governance. • Identifies four modes of acceleration: adding, replacing, removing, limiting. • Shows how acceleration redefines legitimacy around efficiency and control. This article examines how renewed interest in mineral extraction in Sweden is articulated and enacted by the government through political narratives and governance practices in the context of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). Drawing on a narrative analysis of policy documents and public statements, it shows that acceleration operates not merely as an administrative response but as a governing principle that reorders authority, legitimacy, and democratic engagement in mining governance. Four interrelated modes of change are identified—adding, replacing, removing, and limiting—through which urgency narratives legitimise institutional restructuring, centralisation, and the curtailment of deliberative safeguards. While framed as necessary for the green transition, these reforms simplify complex trade-offs inherent in wicked and super wicked problems and risk undermining deliberative capacity, justice, and long-term sustainability. The article contributes to debates on climate urgency and reflexive governance by highlighting the political and normative implications of institutionalised acceleration in environmental and mineral governance.