Energy in Sweden

Energy in Sweden is characterized by relatively high per capita production and consumption, and a reliance on imports for fossil fuel supplies.

[2] A high carbon tax on heating fuels has contributed to a noticeable uptake in biomass and electricity usage in the heating/cooling sector, with Eurostat reporting Sweden had the highest share of renewable energy for heating and cooling in the EU, at 69% (2022).

[5][6] Nevertheless, sustainability measures have reduced total emissions in Sweden, even as the population has increased; at 3.6 tonnes per person, Sweden's 2022 per capita Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are 45% lower than 1990 levels and below the world average.

[14] Eurostat reported that Sweden had already exceeded the Directive's 2020 target in 2014[15] reaching 52.6% of total final energy consumption provided by renewables, up from 38.7% in 2004.

[16] This makes Sweden the leading country within the EU-28 group in terms of renewable energy use by share, followed by Finland and Latvia at 38.7%, Austria at 33.1% and Denmark on 29.2%.

[16] The two other signatories of the directive, Iceland and Norway, remain ahead of Sweden at 77.1% and 69.2% respectively.

[19][20] As of 2015[update] the plan of the certificate system was to support 25 TWh of new renewable electricity generation by 2020.

[34] Sweden has a wave power station outside Lysekil run by Uppsala University.

[38] Sweden published the sustainability criteria for biofuels (2011) which consider the areas with high biological values to be protected in respect to fuels production.

[42] Sweden is preparing to dismantle and demolish six large nuclear power reactors on three sites in coming years.

This excludes the costs of near-surface disposal facilities for very low-level waste at Ringhals, Oskarshamn, and Forsmark.

[46] In January 1991, Sweden enacted a carbon tax of SEK 250 per 1000 kg ($40 at the time, or EUR 27 at current rates) on the use of oil, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, and aviation fuel used in domestic travel.

[49] According to a 2019 study, the tax was instrumental in substantially reducing Sweden's carbon dioxide emissions.

[50] The tax is also credited by Swedish Society for Nature Conservation climate change expert Emma Lindberg and University of Lund Professor Thomas Johansson with spurring a significant move from hydrocarbon fuels to biomass.