Environmental accounts – Emissions to air 2022, regional statistics
Greenhouse gas emissions decreased 2022 for most of Sweden’s counties
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2025-02-11 8.00
Greenhouse gas emissions decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 for 19 of Sweden’s 21 counties. The only exceptions were Stockholm and Blekinge. The emission intensity (the emissions of greenhouse gases per unit of economic output) also decreased in all counties except Stockholm and Blekinge.
– Almost all counties showed decreased emissions of greenhouse gases in 2022 compared to the previous year. It was primarily emissions from households' use of fossil gasoline and diesel that decreased in all counties, says Max Jonsson, analyst at Statistics Sweden's environmental accounts. Emissions from the public sector, goods production, and service production also decreased in most of the counties.
Greenhouse gas emissions based on the county’s economic activity in 2022
Greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden's economy amounted to 49 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2022, which was a decrease of two million tonnes compared to 2021. Except for emission increases in Stockholm and Blekinge, the counties of Sweden showed decreases in production-based emissions in 2022. In Blekinge, the increased emissions were driven by production of goods, and in Stockholm it was driven by the service production.
The largest percentage decrease in emissions occurred in Örebro and in Gävleborg, where emissions decreased by 18 and 9 percent respectively. In general, across the country, it was the households' use of fossil gasoline and diesel that accounted for the largest percentage decreases in emissions.
The largest share of Sweden's greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 came from Västra Götaland, emitting 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents and corresponding to 22 percent of the country's emissions. The counties of Stockholm, Skåne and Norrbotten emitted 7 million tonnes, 5 million tonnes and 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents respectively, which corresponded to 13, 11 and 10 percent of Sweden’s emissions.
Emission intensity by county
The emission intensity (emissions of greenhouse gases in relation to the gross regional product) in 2022 decreased for all of Sweden's counties except for Stockholm and Blekinge. The largest percentage reduction in emission intensity compared to previous year occurred in Örebro county, where the intensity decreased by 21 percent, followed by Värmland where the emission intensity decreased by 19 percent.
The emission intensity in 2022 differed across the country. For the region of Gotland, the emission intensity was 96 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per million SEK. The corresponding figure for the region of Stockholm was 4 tonnes. For the whole country, the emission intensity was 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per million SEK. One explanation for the large variations is the location of emission intensive industries around the country.
Source: SCB
Environmental economic profile by county
An environmental economic profile can be used to provide a general description of a county’s environmental economic structure. This profile shows the county’s share of Sweden’s gross domestic product (GDP), greenhouse gas emissions and employees.
In many counties, the share of greenhouse gas emissions is roughly the same as the share of employees and the share of GDP. Counties like Norrbotten, Södermanland, and Gotland, on the other hand, have emission-intensive profiles, in which the share of greenhouse gas emissions is larger than the share of employees and of GDP. This is due to emission-intensive industries and/or numerous shipping companies in these counties.
In Västra Götaland county, levels of output of both goods and services are high. This leads to a high share of employees, GDP and greenhouse gas emissions. However, in Norrbotten county the share of employees and GDP are smaller, but the share of greenhouse gas emissions is high. This is due, in part, to the presence of manufacturing industries with high emissions and few employees.
In the Stockholm county, there is a high share of employees and high contributions to GDP. The largest industries in Stockholm county are in service sectors, in which the levels of greenhouse gas emissions are relatively low.
Source: SCB
Definitions and explanations
Statistics Sweden’s environmental accounts publishes regional emissions to air per industrial sector at regional, county and municipal level. The statistics include emissions, emission intensities and environmental economic profiles. The statistics follow the framework of the national accounts, which means that emissions are linked to the specific economic activities responsible for the emissions. This does not necessarily imply that the emissions actually occur in a specific region, but rather that the economic actor responsible for the emissions is located there.
The Environmental Accounts are compiled according to the framework of the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) and show national environmental statistics and economic statistics in the same framework, using NACE industry classification. The objective is to measure Swedish economic actors’ emissions and environmental pressures, irrespective of where they occur geographically.
Therefore, a residence adjustment is applied in order to adjust statistical sources with a territorial perspective to the national and environmental accounts’ economic perspective. The residence adjustment applies primarily to transports, such as heavy duty road transport. It mostly refers to land transport companies (H49) but also in other industries such as construction (F41-43), water transport (H50) and air transport (H51). Further information about the residence adjustment can be found in the document (in Swedish) concerning the quality of the statistics on the Environmental Accounts webpage. These statistics are also explained in more detail in the Environmental Accounts Statistical Report 2017:2 Regional Environmental Accounts 2008–2015.
The regional emissions statistics from Statistics Sweden's environmental accounts report production-based emissions to air per industry from Sweden's economy, which also includes households. Production based emissions include emissions of greenhouse gases by Swedish economic actors and differ in that respect from the territorial emissions, which instead refers to national borders and constitutes the statistics used to follow up the climate goals within the UN, the EU and nationally.
Regional statistics on air emissions reported by SMHI refer to territorial emissions, which thus is emissions that occur within the boundaries of each region. This means that SMHI’s statistics are preferred when monitoring air pollution levels in a specific area: Nationella emissionsdatabasen | SMHI
Greenhouse gases in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents are calculated as an aggregate of fossil CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, SF6. The conversion factors (Global Warming Potential, GWP) used to calculate carbon dioxide equivalents are the same factors used for climate reporting to the UNFCCC. [1]
Biogenic CO2 is reported separately and is not included in the reported aggregate for greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide equivalents. Currently, Statistics Sweden's environmental accounts do not publish regional statistics for biogenic CO2. However, biogenic CO2 is reported at the national level in the statistical database under the heading 'Air Emission Accounts': System of Environmental and Economic Accounts.
[1] IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp, AR5 Synthesis Report - Climate Change 2014 (ipcc.ch)
Revisions
Since the previous publication, a number of revisions have been made.
In this publication of the statistics, the following emissions are published in the statistical database: GHG greenhouse gases, CO2 fossil carbon dioxide, CH4 methane, N2O nitrous oxide. Previous years, more emissions of air pollutants have been published for the regional statistics. The other pollutants are still published at the national level. SMHI also publishes regional statistics from a territorial perspective for other emission pollutants: See Nationella emissionsdatabasen | SMHI.
In addition, several revisions have been made that affect the national emissions statistics, which are used as input data when emissions are allocated per region. The emissions from use of working machinery and road transportation as well as the emission factors of fuels used in stationary fuel combustion have been changed due to revisions made in the IPCC's Assessment Report. Revisions have been also made in the calculation of fossil emissions that derive from waste management.
More information on these updates is available in the webpage Miljöräkenskaper (scb.se) under the heading Documentation.
Next publishing will be
The next publication of regional statistics on air emissions is scheduled for the autumn of 2025.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.