Sweden will be the world’s first country to aim for consumption-based emission reductions
An agreement between Sweden’s political parties positions the country to take responsibility for the carbon footprint of imported goods
Sweden’s political parties agreed on Thursday to include consumption-based emissions in their climate goals, making it the first country in the world to take the step into the complex sphere of emissions reporting abroad.
National climate targets are based on reporting the emissions created on a country’s territory. In Sweden’s case, it has used that information to enroll a 2045 net zero target in law, making it one of Europe’s most ambitious green leaning nations.
These credentials were further burned on Thursday when a parliamentary environment committee agreed to include consumption-based emissions – pollutants generated abroad to manufacture products for import – in Sweden’s climate goals.
– Including consumption emissions in Sweden’s emissions targets is historic and something that many organizations have worked towards for a long time, says Karin Lexén, Secretary General of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
Greta Thunberg, who started a global youth climate movement from Stockholm, has long argued rich countries must take responsibility for – and reduce – consumption-based emissions.
The committee’s recommendation still needs to be adopted and other details, such as how to take into account Sweden’s exports, as well as international aviation and shipping, need to be worked out.
Consumption-based statistics are tricky, as a lack of international standards means that different calculation methods are used. Lack of reliable reporting on emission-intensive manufacturing processes can also distort results.
However, the European Geosciences Union estimates that about 22% of global CO2 emissions come from goods produced in one country and consumed in another.
Global Carbon Project calculates that about 60% of Sweden’s total emissions originate from abroad and are embedded in imports. For a country that is making great strides in terms of clean energy at home, it is a remarkable crack in its climate equipment.
“Sweden’s adoption of this target would hopefully set a new standard for how to manage consumption emissions and encourage other European countries to follow suit,” says climate researcher Zeke Hausfather to Climate Home News.
Elisabetta Cornago, a climate expert at the Center for European Reform, agreed: “As it increases the ambitions of climate action, it may push other countries that want to appoint themselves climate leaders to follow up.”
But she added that although “the discussion will have to go there eventually, I’m not sure many other EU countries are ready to change their approach to national goals right now.”
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A Chalmers University of Technology Report on consumption patterns strongly informed the committee’s work and project manager Jörgen Larsson said that the Paris Agreement would be dependent on changes in human behavior.
“If we are to achieve really low emission levels, we must both invest heavily in new climate-smart technologies, and make significant changes in our behavior when it comes to goods and services,” the associate professor said in a press release. release.
This can mean repairing white goods instead of buying new ones, exchanging meatballs for falafel and walking, cycling or taking the bus instead of refilling a car with imported petrol.
According to a European Investment Bank from 2021 investigation, 76% of Swedes are for stricter government measures aimed at changing behavioral patterns. This indicates that the Scandinavian country has good conditions to at least try the consumption target.
Annika Hedberg, senior analyst at the European Policy Center, said that “tArguments such as this will encourage the measurement of the problem and progress towards achieving it “, adding that it should contribute to” increasing transparency and educating people about the effects of consumption “.
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On the technical side, Swedish industries use most of enviable clean energy resources to establish battery factories and try the production of sustainable steel, made from green hydrogen.
But behavior and technical upgrades at home will not suffice if large emitters elsewhere do not keep their end to the Paris Agreement. This is where the EU’s plan to put a carbon tax on certain imports into the picture.
Sweden supports the so-called carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which will enter into force in 2026 and include imports of cement, iron and steel, fertilizers, aluminum and electricity.
Annika Hedberg said that CBAM, together with proposed rules against deforestation and discussions on due diligence, all indicate that the EU takes its emissions abroad more seriously than ever.
This should be paired with support for poorer trading partners to clean up their export industries, said Tim Gore, climate director at the Institute for European Environmental Policy. “Scaling up international climate finance and technical support to trading partners to reduce emissions will be key.”