Definitions and explanations

What does the quarterly statistics show?
The quarterly statistics from Statistics Sweden’s environmental accounts report production-based air emissions by industry for the Swedish economy, including households. Production-based emissions refer to greenhouse gas emissions generated by Swedish economic actors. The statistics cover emissions from Swedish companies and individuals occurring both within and outside Sweden’s borders. Production-based emissions follow the same system boundary as the national economic statistics, the National Accounts.

For the transport industry, emissions generated by transport companies with economic residence in Sweden are included, regardless of where in the world these emissions occur. Correspondingly, emissions from foreign economic actors are excluded. For example, emissions from foreign airlines operating flights to, from or within Sweden are not included.

In accordance with the climate convention, biogenic carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of biofuels are reported separately from fossil carbon dioxide emissions. In the statistics on total greenhouse gas emissions from the Swedish economy, biogenic emissions are excluded. This is because the extraction of biomass from forests and land (for example for the production of biofuels) is monitored within the land use sector (LULUCF) in Sweden’s reporting under international commitments such as the Paris Agreement. If the same quantities of carbon reported as biomass extraction were also reported as emissions from the combustion of biofuels, this would result in double counting. To ensure that all carbon dioxide emissions are accounted for, biogenic carbon dioxide emissions from the Swedish economy are therefore presented as a separate category.

When comparing quarters, readers should be aware of seasonal variations. For example, emissions from the Electricity, gas, heating, water, sewage and waste management sector tend to be higher during the colder months of the year, while households’ consumption of diesel and petrol is higher during the warmer months.

Greenhouse gases expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents are calculated as an aggregate of CO₂ (fossil), CH₄, N₂O, HFCs, PFCs and SF₆. The conversion factors (Global Warming Potential, GWP) used to calculate carbon dioxide equivalents are the same as those applied in Sweden’s climate reporting to the UNFCCC[1].

[1] IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp, AR5 Synthesis Report - Climate Change 2014 (ipcc.ch).

Revisions
The OECD has not updated the statistics used to estimate emissions from aviation. Until publication of these data resumes, estimates have been based on data from the corresponding quarter of the previous year.