Environmental Accounts – Emissions to air third quarter 2020
Greenhouse gas emissions decrease continued in third quarter of 2020
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2021-02-04 9.30
Greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s economy decreased by 9 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same quarter in 2019. This decrease is mainly due to falling emissions from the transport sector, which includes the maritime transport and aviation sectors, and the manufacturing sector.
As in the previous quarters of 2020, greenhouse gas emissions were lower in the third quarter than in the same quarter the previous year. Greenhouse gas emissions from the Swedish economy amounted to 12.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the third quarter of 2020, which is 9.1 percent less than the same period in 2019. In the same interval, Sweden’s GDP decreased by 2.5 percent. This means the trend of declining greenhouse gas emissions per Swedish krona of production in the economy (the emissions intensity) has continued.
Source: Statistics Sweden
Emissions decreased in the transport and manufacturing sectors
Greenhouse gas emissions declined in most sectors in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. This decrease is mainly due to less travel in the third quarter of 2020. For 2020, emissions from mobile sources were modelled using the method described in the “Definitions and explanations” section below.
The largest decrease was noted in the transport sector, where emissions fell by 38 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. The transport sector includes aviation, maritime and road transports. While the largest decrease was noted in the aviation sector, emissions from maritime transport also decreased sharply. Value added in the transport sector decreased by 19 percent.
Greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing decreased by 5 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. This decrease mainly came from steel and metal production. Value added in manufacturing decreased by 2 percent over the same period.
The only sector with higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019 was the energy, wastewater and waste utilities sector. Greenhouse gas emissions from this sector increased by 8 percent compared with the same period in 2019. The increase is partly explained by the fact that the use of certain fossil fuels was below average in the third quarter of 2019.
Source: Statistics Sweden
| NACE 2007 industry | Greenhouse gas emissions | Value Added | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020Q3 | Change compared to samer quarter 2019 | 2020Q3 | Change compared to same quarter 2019 | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishery | 2 181 | ‑21 | ‑1.0% | 17 490 | ‑811 | ‑4.4% | |
| Mining | 273 | ‑12 | ‑4.2% | 7 081 | ‑43 | ‑0.6% | |
| Manufacturing | 3 404 | ‑192 | ‑5.3% | 150 003 | ‑3 200 | ‑2.1% | |
| Electricity, gas, heat, water, waste | 1 351 | 96 | 7.6% | 24 281 | ‑127 | ‑0.5% | |
| Construction | 468 | ‑10 | ‑2.1% | 66 192 | 896 | 1.4% | |
| Transport | 1 509 | ‑928 | ‑38.1% | 36 959 | ‑8 649 | ‑19.0% | |
| Other services | 842 | ‑40 | ‑4.6% | 505 413 | ‑11 145 | ‑2.2% | |
| Public sector | 139 | ‑21 | ‑13.4% | 188 772 | ‑1 657 | ‑0.9% | |
| Households and non-profit institutions [1] | 2 245 | ‑106 | ‑4.5% | 13 468 | ‑518 | ‑3.7% | |
| Total economy [2] | 12 410 | ‑1 236 | ‑9.1% | 1 139 725 | ‑29 290 | ‑2.5% | |
Source: Statistics Sweden
Revisions for mobile emissions
For the reference periods first quarter 2008 up to and including the fourth quarter 2017, the statistics produced here used the monthly fuel, gas and inventory statistics as a source for calculating quarterly emissions from transport vehicles. For reference periods as from the first quarter 2018, other sources have been used. These sources included 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) and other relevant physical data with short periodicity (more information is available, in Swedish, in the quality declaration for the statistics). The reason for this methodological development is that the monthly fuel, gas and inventory statistics have been deemed to be associated with significant uncertainties from the start of reference year 2018. These uncertainties are considered to have arisen due to a revision of the data collection survey used for the monthly fuel, gas and inventory statistics that was implemented at the start of 2018.
In accordance with this development, emissions from transport vehicles per quarter of 2020 were calculated using the following sources:
- For water transport: the quarterly development of the number of vessels docking in Swedish ports (in gross tonnage), according to Sweden’s official statistics on shipping goods (from Transport Analysis).
- For air transport: the quarterly development of the number of landings at Swedish airports (from the Swedish Transport Agency).
- For heavy goods (road) vehicles: the quarterly development of transport performance (in tonne-km) according to Sweden’s official statistics on road goods transport (from Transport Analysis).
- For passenger cars: the weekly changes in traffic volume on the state road network (from the Swedish Transport Administration).
The modelling of mobile emissions causes some uncertainty, which should be taken into account when interpreting the data presented. Emissions from mobile sources amount to almost 45 percent of the total. Greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources decreased by about 17 percent in total in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.
Several activities are underway to improve the statistics to make it possible to return to earlier methods.
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 klimatpåverkade utsläpp
A residence adjustment is applied to adjust 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 National Accounts 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.
Next publishing will be
The next statistical news on quarterly emissions to air, on the fourth quarter of 2020, is scheduled for publication in May 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.