Sweden Confirms 2030 Climate Goals with EU-Aligned Adjustments
Sweden's national climate goals for 2030 will stay intact with adjustments aligning targets to EU standards, including maintaining a 70% transport emissions reduction target and allowing international offset measures.
- • Sweden's 2030 climate goals remain but are adjusted to align with EU targets.
- • The emissions reduction target changes from 63% (1990 baseline) to 60% (2005 baseline) without lowering ambition.
- • The transport sector target of a 70% emissions reduction by 2030 is retained.
- • Up to 10% of reductions may come from international measures such as carbon capture or investments abroad.
Key details
Sweden's national climate goals for 2030 are confirmed to remain, with key adjustments to align with European Union regulations, according to a unanimous proposal from the Miljömålsberedningen presented to Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari. The committee, comprising all parliamentary parties and led by Christofer Fjellner, emphasized that these changes represent a revision rather than a revolution in policy.
The primary adjustment concerns the emissions reduction target, shifting from a 63% decrease relative to 1990 levels to a 60% reduction compared to 2005 levels, aiming to enhance clarity and comparability with EU standards without diminishing ambition. The committee also upheld the controversial transport sector target of achieving a 70% emissions reduction by 2030.
Additionally, the report permits up to 10% of emissions reductions to be achieved through complementary international measures, such as investments abroad and carbon capture technologies. Pourmokhtari described the report as a critical step forward in Sweden’s climate work and expressed hope that misconceptions about climate goal abolishment would cease, noting concerns these had raised in the business community.
These confirmed and adjusted targets are designed to keep Sweden on track toward its overarching objective of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, guiding climate policy with interim targets through 2030.