This country note 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.
Environment at a Glance: Sweden
Sweden is a strong knowledge-based economy, well integrated in global value chains, which contributes to high standards of living, well-being, income and gender equality, as well as a high environmental quality to its inhabitants. Sweden has a sound, innovation-oriented economy built on rich reserves of timber, iron ore and hydropower, a strong industrial base and a highly skilled labour force.
As in all developed economies, services are the largest sector. The country’s industry is led by exports and has traditionally focused on processing the abundant local forest and mineral resources. Sweden’s energy supply is characterised by high shares of hydropower, nuclear power and bioenergy (mainly from domestic forest resources).
Sweden is geographically one of the largest countries in Western Europe with a total area of 450 000 km2. It occupies about two-thirds of the Scandinavian Peninsula; its coastline measures 11 000 km. With 10.4 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.
More than two-thirds of Sweden’s territory is flat, covered by forests and with abundant water resources. The Swedish countryside is dotted with nearly 100 000 lakes, and thousands of islands are located off its jagged coast. Almost all forest land is used for forestry.
Sweden has managed to decouple production-based CO2 emissions from real GDP growth, as well as from energy consumption.
The per person production-based and demand-based (or footprint) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been steadily declining since 1995, 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.
GHG emissions have declined by 34% since 2000 and, thanks to its vast forest area, the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector compensates almost entirely. Transport is the most emitting sector, followed by the energy industry.
Sweden has minimal fossil-energy resources and relies on imported oil and natural gas. In 2023, fossil fuels accounted for 24% of Sweden’s total energy supply, among the lowest shares in the OECD. The country possesses important supplies of renewable energy, mainly in the form of biomass and hydropower. The country has improved its self-sufficiency (more than three quarters of its energy supply in 2023) thanks to its production of hydropower, nuclear power, bioenergy and increasingly, wind power. Non-fossil energy sources, including nuclear power, contribute 98% of the country’s electricity production, the highest share of any OECD country after Iceland.
In 2020, renewable energy accounted for 60% of gross final energy consumption, the highest share in the European Union, well above the target of 49% set for Sweden in the EU Renewable Energy Directive. The updated National Energy and Climate Plan projects to reach 67% of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption by 2030. This is below the 76% recommended by the European Commission but is the most ambitious target among EU countries. In 2022, Sweden replaced its target of 100% renewable electricity generation by 2040 with a target of 100% fossil-free electricity production. On the other hand, the Swedish economy is more energy intense than the OECD Europe average due its low population density, cold winters and pulp and paper and metals industries (OECD, 2025[1]).
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. A less marked decrease can be seen for ammonia. This is reflected in the relatively stable 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 microgrammes/m3 of population exposure to PM2.5. 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[1]).
Sweden is a water-rich country and, freshwater abstractions being below 2% of total renewable resources, the country is under low water stress. However, despite overall water abundance, 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[1]).
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[1]).
With 392 kg/person/year in 2023, municipal waste generation intensity is well below the OECD average. The majority of municipal waste is incinerated with energy recovery. The share of composted municipal waste has more than doubled since 2000, whereas the share sent to recycling has declined. 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[1]).
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[1]).
Sweden is one of the few OECD countries where per person domestic material consumption has increased since 2000, reflecting increased extraction of non-metallic minerals and metal ores. 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 in forests and, in spite of a significant decline in the 20th century, Sweden still has the largest area of old-growth boreal forests in Western Europe.
Some of the most species-rich habitats are found in the rural areas and the semi-natural grasslands, which cover 8% of the total land area. In the past century, these grasslands have been reduced to only a fraction of their previous extent and almost half of the red-listed species (2020 of 4338) can be found in the agricultural landscape. Between 2000 and 2005, more red-listed species in the agricultural landscape showed signs of deterioration, being mainly threatened by small population size and fragmented distribution. In the Swedish agricultural landscape, 132 species have become extinct. Vascular plants, macrofungi, butterflies and beetles are groups of flora and fauna containing particularly large numbers of threatened species, and the proportions of such species among brachiopods, amphibians, reptiles, anthozoa and mammals are especially high (CBD, 2022[2]). The situation is particularly worrying for forest, grasslands and coastal habitats. 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[1]).
With about 15% of terrestrial protected areas and 16% or marine protected areas, Sweden is below the OECD average and more efforts are needed to achieve the 2030 GBF target of protecting 30% of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of 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 and continues to have high carbon prices by international standards. However, the green tax shift implemented in the first half of the 2000s, has stalled and even reversed in recent years. While taxes on labour have fallen only marginally and remain high, revenue from environmentally related taxes decreased from 2.5% of GDP in 2010 to 1.6% in 2023. 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. Over 2021-24, combined carbon and energy taxes fall in real terms by 29% for petrol and 26% for diesel (OECD, 2025[1]).
The Swedish government has put substantial effort into phasing out fossil-fuel support throughout the last decade. However, it has not adopted intermediate targets for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and does not report on the related indicator. As other OECD countries, Sweden 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. Over 2022-23, these measures represented almost 0.3% of annual GDP or 40% of fuel tax revenue (OECD, 2025[1]).
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. However, this rate has dropped by almost 20% over 2021-2023, compared with a 10% fall in the EU. 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 (EU ETS). 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, 2025[1]) (OECD, 2024[3]).
The share of environmentally-related government R&D budget in total R&D budget hovers around 2-3%, higher than many other countries. By contrast, the share of renewables in public energy R&D, after having reached a high of 45% in 2010, has declined to below 17% in 2022.
The share of environmentally-related inventions in total inventions has followed quite closely the trend in the OECD area, increasing from 5.7% in 2000 to 15% in 2014, to then decrease to 11% in 2022.
Sweden is an ambitious and influential actor in sustainable development with a strong track record of delivering support for poverty reduction and a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Sweden is committed to making its development assistance more focused, relevant, effective and transparent. Swedish co‑operation is currently focused on Ukraine, humanitarian support, democracy, climate action, gender equality, trade and migration. Sweden’s total official development assistance (ODA) decreased in 2024 to USD 5 billion (preliminary data), representing 0.79% of gross national income (GNI).
In 2022-23, Sweden committed 44.7% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 1 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 34.1% in 2020-21. The DAC average was 39% in 2022-23. Seventeen per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 9.6%. Twenty-nine per cent of total bilateral allocable ODA focused on climate change overall, up from 21.2% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 34.8%). Sweden had a greater focus on adaptation (27.5%) than on mitigation (14.9%) in 2022-23. Sixteen per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on biodiversity overall, up from 12.5% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 7.6%). Sweden committed USD 43.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2023, USD 3.6 million less than in 2022. The 2023 value is equivalent to 2.2% of Sweden’s bilateral allocable ODA. (OECD, 2025[4]).
References
[2] CBD (2022), Country profiles: Sweden, https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=se#facts.
[4] OECD (2025), Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/development-co-operation-profiles_04b376d7-en/sweden_557d7c2d-en.html.
[1] OECD (2025), Environmental Performance Review of Sweden, OECD Publishing, Paris.
[3] OECD (2024), Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2024: Gearing Up to Bring Emissions Down, OECD Series on Carbon Pricing and Energy Taxation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b44c74e6-en.
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