Sweden’s long-term strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This document presents the Government’s long-term strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with article 4.19 of the Paris Agreement, which encourages countries to formulate and communicate long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies. The document describes Sweden's most important instruments and policies in specific areas such as transport; industry; electricity and district heating; households and services; non-road mobile machinery; waste; agriculture; and land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).
As regards the electricity and heating sector, the document identifies two main challenges: how to handle peak loads and how to reduce emissions from incineration of waste of fossil origin. Curent and future measures include electrification of the vehicle fleet and electrification of processes in basic materials industry; increasing material recovery; incentives such as product requirements for more renewable materials in plastic manufacture; waste prevention; higher resource efficiency; promoting circular economy; carbon taxes and energy taxes for heating and electricity production; promoting wind power; supporting solar energy; tax reduction for microproduction of renewable energy, etc.
As regards waste, priorities include reducing methane emissions from landfills, increasing material recovery, and reducing the overall amount of waste. For these purposes, current and future measures include banning combustible and organic material in landfills; regulating the collection and management of methane gas from landfills; legislating on producer responsibility that encourages sorting, collection, and recycling of waste flows; applying the waste hierarchy in the EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EU); landfill taxes; mandatory municipal waste planning reducing the amount of waste and its hazardousness; promoting a circular and more resource-efficient economy.
In the agriculture sector, emissions are estimated to account for 13 per cent of Sweden's total emissions. Therefore, reducing agricultural emissions is a key priority for Sweden, specially taking into account that the parliament has decided that Swedish food production is to increase, as stated in the Food Strategy. The most important action areas are; manure management measures to reduce emissions, such as a switch to slurry and anaerobic digestion of animal manure; and more efficient nitrogen use in arable farming by optimizing fertilizer spreading in terms of the amount and time of spreading.
In the LULUCF sector, the Government is taking several actions to promote larger carbon removals and reduce emissions. Among other things, the Government has appointed an inquiry on forests, looking at revised forms of protection and compensation when protecting forest lands, and how international commitments on biodiversity could be made compatible with a growing circular bioeconomy. It will also develop the National Forest Program (2018) to further promote a growing forest industry and sustainable forestry. The Government also intends to produce a Swedish bioeconomy strategy together with the green industries that contribute towards greater access to biomass and employment throughout Sweden and create environmental and climate benefit. Further, in 2021, a new scheme will be established in order to rewet previously drained wetlands.