Environmental Accounts – Emissions to air Q1 2021
Greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s economy continue to decrease
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2021-09-02 9.30
Greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s economy decreased by 5 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same quarter a year ago. This is mainly due to decreased emissions in the transport sector, in particular aviation.
Statistics on greenhouse gas and other air emissions from Sweden’s economy for the first quarter of 2021 are now available from Statistics Sweden’s Environmental Accounts. These statistics are classified by economic activity and include emissions from all Swedish economic actors, including households.
In the first quarter of 2021, total greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s economy amounted to 12.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. This is 5 percent less than in the same quarter a year ago. Sweden’s GDP decreased over the same period by less than one percent.
Greenhouse gas intensity, that is, greenhouse gas emissions per Swedish krona of production in the economy, continued to decrease in the first quarter of 2021.
Source: Statistics Sweden.
Greenhouse gas emissions decreased in transport and other sectors
Greenhouse gas emissions decreased in many sectors in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. The largest decrease was noted in the transport sector, where emissions in the first quarter of 2021 were 38 percent lower than in the corresponding quarter in 2020. Within the transport sector, the decrease was particularly significant for aviation. From an economic perspective, the transport sector’s value added decreased by 8 percent. Emissions from private households decreased by 3 percent due to reduced car transport. Modest decreases in greenhouse gas emissions arose in the construction sector, agriculture, forestry and fishing, service industries and the public sector. Value added in these sectors also decreased over the same time interval.
Greenhouse gas emissions increased in the energy sector (including in this classification the water, wastewater and waste sectors) in the first quarter of 2021 by 11 percent compared with the same period in the preceding year. Nevertheless, over the whole time series from 2008 the trend towards decreased greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector continues. Greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing industry increased by less than one percent in the first quarter of 2021.
Source: Statistics Sweden.
| NACE 2007 industry | Greenhouse gas emissions | Value Added | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021Q1 | Change compared to samer quarter 2020 | 2021Q1 | Change compared to same quarter 2020 | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishery | 2 140 | ‑58.0 | ‑2.6% | 17 335 | ‑821 | ‑4.5% | |
| Mining | 325 | 13.9 | 4.5% | 11 219 | ‑90 | ‑0.8% | |
| Manufacturing | 3 312 | 49.7 | 1.5% | 175 195 | 3 320 | 1.9% | |
| Electricity, gas, heat, water, waste | 2 110 | 186.7 | 9.7% | 36 847 | 914 | 2.5% | |
| Construction | 397 | ‑48.2 | ‑10.8% | 71 520 | ‑2 408 | ‑3.3% | |
| Transport | 1 133 | ‑695.0 | ‑38.0% | 38 014 | ‑3 150 | ‑7.7% | |
| Other services | 759 | ‑39.7 | ‑5.0% | 518 353 | ‑1 522 | ‑0.3% | |
| Public sector | 137 | ‑22.5 | ‑14.1% | 246 340 | ‑2 570 | ‑1.0% | |
| Households and non-profit institutions [1] | 1 908 | ‑55.9 | ‑2.8% | 13 477 | ‑414 | ‑3.0% | |
| Total economy | 12 221 | ‑669.2 | ‑5.2% | 1 257 753 | ‑8 634 | ‑0.7% | |
[1] Only non-profit institutions provide value added. Source: Statistics Sweden.
Definitions and explanations
The System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) is constructed using the national accounts as a foundation and presents environmental and economic statistics in a common system. The SEEA makes it possible to analyse interactions between the economy and the environment. The starting point is Swedish economic actors’ environmental pressures, irrespective of where in the world they occur.
The statistics produced here use a production perspective. This means that emissions are allocated to the actor and sector that produces the emissions. Indirect emissions arising due to imports and other consumption are not included.
The statistics produced here are not used directly to measure emissions in relation to nationally and internationally agreed climate targets. Statistics with a territorial perspective are used for that purpose. More information about different perspectives for emissions accounting is available on the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s website (in Swedish):
Tre sätt att beräkna klimatpåverkande utsläpp (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency)
A residence adjustment is applied to adapt statistical sources with a territorial perspective used to produce these statistics to the national and environmental accounts’ economic perspective. The residence adjustment applies primarily to transport: heavy-duty road transport (primarily within H49 land transport companies, but also other industries, such as construction), water transport (H50) and air transport (H51). The residence adjustment for heavy-duty road transport is based on data on transport work (in tonne-km) for Swedish companies abroad and foreign companies in Sweden, with data from Transport Analysis (Trafikanalys). For water transport and air transport, the residence adjustment is based on data for Swedish companies’ expenditure on fuel from Statistics Sweden’s database on intermediate use in the economy, PRIOR.
Emissions and sequestration due to land use (LULUCF) and carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) are not included in the statistics.
Modelling assumptions for mobile emissions
For the reference periods 2008 Q1 – 2017Q4 and 2020Q1 onwards, the air emissions for non-road machinery, road transport and aviation have been calculated with the monthly fuel, gas and inventory statistics as a source. For reference periods 2018Q1 – 2019Q4 the register of reports to the Swedish Energy Agency in accordance with Sweden’s implementation of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) have been used to calculate the air emissions from these sources. The reason for returning to the monthly fuel, gas and inventory statistics as a source beginning 2020Q1 and onwards is that producers of these statistics assess the data for those time periods to be of high quality. Comparisons between the period 2018Q1–2019Q4 and other periods in the time series should therefore be made with caution.
Next publishing will be
The next statistical news on quarterly emissions to air for the second quarter of 2021 is scheduled for 9:30 on 28 October 2021.
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.