Environment at a Glance Indicators

This country profile features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, and biodiversity. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data. The text of this country profile is complementary to and has benefited from the OECD Environmental Performance Review of Sweden 2025 (forthcoming).

Sweden has an open, knowledge-based economy, with high standards of living, well-being, income and gender equality, and good environmental quality. The country has rich reserves of timber, iron and other metals, as well as freshwater. Hydropower, nuclear power and biomass provide a large part of its energy supply. Sweden’s economy is predominantly service based. Industry is led by exports and has traditionally focused on processing the abundant forest and mineral resources.

Sweden is one of the largest countries in Western Europe with a total area of 529 000 km². It occupies about two-thirds of the Scandinavian Peninsula; its coastline measures 11 000 km. More than two-thirds of its territory is covered by forests. The countryside is dotted with nearly 100 000 lakes, and thousands of islands are located off its jagged coast. With 10.5 million inhabitants, Sweden remains sparsely populated. Most Swedes live in the south, with roughly one-third in the metropolitan areas of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

Sweden is a unitary state with a decentralised governance system including 21 counties and 290 municipalities. The Ministry of Climate and Enterprise is responsible for matters relating to climate, the environment, energy, enterprise, innovation as well as radiation safety. It oversees 36 government agencies, including the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, which coordinates and implements environmental policy.

The Swedish economy has one of the lowest GHG emission intensities in the OECD. Sweden has managed to decouple production- and demand-based CO₂ emissions from real GDP growth, as well as from energy supply.

The per person production-based and demand-based (or footprint) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been steadily declining and remain well below the OECD averages. Demand-based emissions are higher than production-based ones, meaning that Sweden is a net importer of GHG emissions embodied in its final demand.

Since 2000, GHG emissions have declined faster than in most EU countries. The land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector is a large but decreasing net sink. Transport is the most emitting sector, followed by the energy industry.

The energy mix has further shifted to renewables. In 2023, fossil fuels accounted for 25% of Sweden’s total energy supply, the second lowest share in the OECD. Electricity generation is almost fossil free. Thanks to its production of nuclear power, hydropower, bioenergy and increasingly wind power, Sweden is highly self-sufficient. It remains dependent on imports of fossil and nuclear fuels.

Air pollution levels in Sweden are among the lowest in the OECD. Emissions of air pollutants have been steadily decreasing since 2000, and emission intensities, both per unit of GDP and per person, are lower than OECD averages. As in other European countries, the fall in ammonia emissions (mainly from agriculture) is less marked. This is also true for GHG emissions from agriculture.

Sweden is one of the few OECD countries to be very close to the 2021 World Health Organisation threshold of 5 µ/m³ of population exposure to PM_2.5. Central and Northern regions are even below this threshold. Nevertheless, some exceedances of EU air quality standards were recorded for PM₁₀ and NO₂ in 2022, for PM₁₀ and CO in 2023 (OECD, 2025 forthcoming).

Sweden is a water-rich country. With abstractions accounting for only 1% of renewable freshwater resources, the country is under low water stress. However, water scarcity has been an issue for some time in southeastern Sweden and is an emerging concern in other regions, with risk of shortage during dry summers. Increased variability of rainfall and higher temperatures due to climate change are expected to exacerbate scarcity, decreasing available supply and increasing demand for water (OECD, 2025 forthcoming).

Almost 90% of the population is connected to wastewater treatment plants, the vast majority of which treat the wastewater with advanced methods. Overall, 97% of the urban wastewater is treated according to the requirements of the EU Directive, well above the EU average of 76% (OECD, 2025 forthcoming).

The time series on municipal waste generation and treatment include a break in 2020. With 395 kg/person in 2022, municipal waste generation intensity is well below the OECD average. Most municipal waste is incinerated with energy recovery. The share of recycling il low compared with other European countries. The introduction of a landfill tax and bans on landfilling for combustible and organic waste in the 2000s has led to a drastic reduction in the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill (OECD, 2025 forthcoming).

Sweden achieved the EU target to limit the share of municipal waste landfilled to 10% well ahead of schedule (2035). However, it did not meet the target of recycling 50% of municipal waste by 2020 and is at risk of not meeting the 2025 target (OECD, 2025 forthcoming).

Sweden is one of the few OECD countries where per person domestic material consumption has increased over 2000-2021, reflecting increased extraction of non-metallic minerals and metal ores. It has since declined with the contraction of the construction sector. Like many OECD countries, material footprint is higher than domestic material consumption, albeit the difference is less marked than in smaller, open economies.

Sweden has a varied landscape with many different ecotypes. Much of the country is covered by forests.

More than three quarters of habitats and half of species of conservation importance in Sweden are in a poor or bad state. The situation is particularly worrying for forest, grasslands, coastal habitats and dunes. Improvements have nevertheless been recorded for amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Despite signs of recovery in the North Sea and for certain species in the Baltic Sea, the state of marine species and habitats remains critical, and their use is not sustainable (OECD, 2025 forthcoming).

With about 15% of terrestrial protected areas, Sweden is below the OECD Europe average of about 21%, and the 2030 target to protect 30% of terrestrial land under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF Target 3). Marine protected areas are above the OECD Europe average but below the 2030 GBF target for marine and coastal areas.

This section shows selected policy instruments based on data available for most OECD countries and does not provide a complete overview of countries’ policy mix to achieve their environment-related objectives. Interpretation should consider the country specific context.

Sweden has been a forerunner in environmental taxation. However, the green tax shift implemented in the first half of the 2000s, has stalled and even reversed in recent years. Revenue from environmentally related taxes decreased from 2.5% of GDP in 2010 to 1.6% in 2023 (OECD, 2025 forthcoming). This is partly explained by the shrinking of the tax base, i.e. lower fuel consumption and increased electrification of vehicles, but also by the drastic cut in fuel tax rates.

Sweden has not adopted intermediate targets for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies (OECD, 2025 forthcoming). Like other OECD countries, it delivers support to fossil fuels through tax expenditures and oil attracts the bulk of government support. The reduced energy tax for diesel used in motor vehicles is the main source of foregone revenue. This is followed by reduced energy and carbon taxes for diesel used in agriculture, fishing and forestry and exemptions for domestic shipping and aviation.

With an average effective carbon rate (ECR) of EUR 90 per tonne of CO₂ in 2023, Sweden continues to have one of the highest carbon prices in the world (OECD, 2024a). However, this rate has dropped significantly over 2021-2023. About 70% of Sweden’s GHG emissions (excluding emissions from biofuel combustion) are priced through fuel excise taxes, carbon tax and the European Union Emissions Trading System. While most emissions from road transport, buildings, electricity and industry are priced at over EUR 60 per tonne of CO₂, most emissions from agriculture (methane and nitrous oxide emissions) are unpriced (OECD, 2024a).

The share of environmentally-related government R&D budget in total R&D budget has recently increased to around 3%, higher than many other countries. By contrast, the share of renewables in public energy RD&D, after having reached a high of 45% in 2010, has declined to below 20% in 2022

The share of environment-related inventions (environmental management, climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies) in total inventions has broadly followed the trend in the OECD area, increasing from 6% in 2000 to 15% in 2014, to then remaining relatively stable.

Sweden is an ambitious and influential actor in sustainable development. Its total official development assistance increased in 2023, representing 0.9% of gross national income, above the UN target of 0.7% but below the national long-standing goal of 1% (OECD, 2024b).

In 2021-22, Sweden committed 45% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.2 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions. The average for members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) was 35% (OECD, 2024b). Over 2021-22, 17% of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%. Overall, 26% of total bilateral allocable aid focused on climate change, with a greater focus on adaptation (25%) than on mitigation (14%). 14% of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on biodiversity (OECD, 2024b).

CBD (2022), Country profiles: Sweden, https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=se#facts

OECD (2025 forthcoming), "Environmental Performance Review of Sweden", OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/91dcc109-en.

OECD (2024a), Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris.

OECD (2024b), Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en