Download EU Environmental Implementation Review: Highlights Sweden

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EU Envir
Review: Highlights
Sweden
“EU environmental laws make people’s lives better but rules only work if they’re actually applied.
Environmental laws improve water & air quality, raise recycling rates & protect nature, to mention a few.
And they provide huge economic benefits. But they can only be effective if implemented. It is here that the
Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) comes in: It is part of our response to citizens, who want the
EU to make sure that environmental rules are applied correctly in their countries.”
Karmenu Vella
Member of the European Commission responsible for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries
Country profile of Sweden
Sweden is a country with long coastlines, thousands of lakes, freshwater streams, mountains and deep forests. The country has an
export-oriented mixed economy. Timber, hydropower and iron ore
constitute the natural resource base of its economy, therefore sustainable management and use of these resources is crucial for the
sustainable development of the Swedish economy. Certain aspects
of the environmental status of seas, lakes, watercourses and ground
waters, and of several terrestrial ecosystems, remain problematic,
not least as regards eutrophication and biodiversity.
©iStockphoto/tupungato
Challenges
Points of excellence
The main challenges Sweden faces with regard to implementing EU
environmental policy and law are:
• Improving the status of habitats, in particular grassland, all
types of which are currently in an unfavourable conservation
status.
• Improving the quality of the monitoring programme for
Swedish marine waters.
• Reducing emissions of air pollutants.
Where Sweden leads in environmental implementation, it could
share its innovative approaches more widely among other countries.
Concrete examples include:
• Sweden’s very good performance in waste recycling; it reached
the EU 2020 recycling rate target of 50 % in 2014 (49.9 %),
which was well ahead of the EU average (43 %).
• In 2015, the government established an Environmental
Objectives Council to strengthen the implementation of
environmental policies. The Council is a platform for heads
of agencies that are strategically important for achieving
environmental objectives.
• In 2014, the government adopted a strategy for biodiversity
and ecosystem services. The strategy has significance not
only for many of its own objectives and its generational goal
but also for the international Aichi targets adopted under the
Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the objectives of
the EU’s biodiversity strategy.
Opportunities
Sweden could perform better on issues where a sound knowledge
base and good practices already exist. This applies in particular to:
• Reducing pressures from agriculture and the modification of
natural systems, which would help move towards a favourable
status of birds and habitats.
Environment
Towards a circular economy
About the Environmental
Implementation Review
The transformation of our economies from linear to circular provides
an opportunity to reinvent them and make them more sustainable
and competitive. This will stimulate investments and bring both
short- and long-term benefits for the economy, the environment
and citizens.
Europeans want common decisions followed by swift and efficient
implementation. Weak implementation generates high societal,
economic and environmental costs and creates an uneven playing
field for businesses. More than 75 % of European citizens consider EU
environmental legislation is necessary to protect the environment in
their country, and nearly 80 % agree that the EU institutions should
be able to check that environmental laws are being applied correctly
in their country.
To promote the circular economy, national Environmental Quality
Objectives (EQOs) have been formulated for 16 areas (Ministry of
the Environment). The objectives are related to climate, air quality,
acidification, forest, wetlands, oceans and coasts, lakes, mountains,
urban environment, agriculture, toxic substances, radiation, ozone,
groundwater and biodiversity.
In the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR), the European
Commission analyses the main challenges and opportunities
regarding the implementation of EU environmental legislation and
policies in each Member State. The findings are published in short
but comprehensive country reports released every two years. The
reports are meant to stimulate a positive debate both on shared
environmental challenges for the EU, as well as on the most
effective ways to address the key implementation gaps and improve
environmental outcomes by each Member State. These reports rely
on more detailed implementation reports collected or issued by the
Commission under specific environmental legislation and the State
of the Environment Reports by the European Environment Agency.
The EIR reports will not replace the specific instruments to ensure
compliance with the EU legal obligations. Climate change has not
been addressed in the first report.
This factsheet presents the highlights of the EIR country report for
Sweden.
Waste management
Sweden has a generally well-performing waste management
system to meet current EU waste targets while further efforts
should be made to limit the incineration of residual waste.
70%
64%
61%
60%
58%
54%
51% 50%
50%
47%
45% 45% 44%
44%
40%
40%
39%
37%
33% 33%
32%
31% 31% 30%
30%
25% 25%
21%
20%
19% 19%
17% 16%
12% 12%
10%
0%
DE
SI
AT
BE NL SE
LU
IT
UK DK EU28 IE
Recycling rate of municipal waste in % 2014
FR EE ES
FI
PL HU LT
PT CZ BG LV EL CY HR RO MT SK
©iStockphoto/ArtesiaWells
Conservation status of protected species in 2013 - Sweden
13,7
Unfavourable, inadequate
Favourable
41%
Unknown
Nature protection
Unfavourable
45%
In Sweden, all grassland habitats and many of their associated
species suffer from an unfavourable conservation status
which indicates a substantial need for the management and
restoration of those habitats as well as a requirement to
enlarge nationally protected areas.
Marine environment
Sweden established a monitoring programme for its marine
waters in 2014. However, it seems that this programme needs
further refinement, with the exception of commercial fisheries
and eutrophication, to constitute an appropriate framework
to monitor progress towards Good Environmental Status and
targets.
Water quality and management
The main pressure on Swedish surface waters is diffuse
pollution, especially long-range transported mercury
which affects 100 % of water bodies. Flow regulation and
morphological alterations affect 29 % and river management
negatively affects 8 % of water bodies. There are some
regional differences, e.g. low regulation and morphological
alterations affect 42 % in the North Baltic river basin district
but a much smaller proportion of water bodies in the north
and west of the country.
In 2015, of 445 bathing waters in Sweden, 62.2 % were
of excellent quality, 17.3 % of good quality, and 3.6 % of
sufficient quality. Ten bathing waters were of poor quality
or non-compliant while it was not possible to assess the
remaining 64 bathing waters. Overall, Sweden’s bathing water
quality has improved since 2014.
Sweden needs to make further efforts to achieve the
objectives of the Water Framework Directive, in particular to
address hydromorphological pressures.
Bathing water quality 2012-2015
2012
2013
2014
2015*
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Sweden EU
Sweden EU
Sweden EU
Sweden EU
Excellent quality
Good quality
Sufficient quality
Poor quality
Quality classification not possible
*The category 'good' was introduced in the 2015 bathing water report
KH-04-17-041-EN-N
Air pollution and traffic congestion
For 2014, exceedances above the EU air quality standards have
been registered relating to the annual mean concentration of
nitrogen dioxide in two air-quality zones (i.e. Gothenburg and
Stockholm) and to the daily concentration of particulate matter
in two air-quality zones (i.e. Stockholm and Middle Sweden).
Furthermore, the long-term objectives regarding ozone
concentration are not being met in several air-quality zones.
Sweden must make further significant efforts to meet EU air quality
standards, especially for particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.
Effective governance and
knowledge
Sweden’s transposition and implementation of EU
environmental legislation has traditionally been good.
In general, the country communicates the transposition
legislation quickly and the overall conformity of Swedish
environmental legislation with EU legislation is good. The
number of infringements and complaints is low. However, the
complaints that are lodged are often very-well-reasoned and
serious.
©:DanielSkog(FoodWastetoBiogas Campaign
In Sweden, compliance promotion activities are conducted at
regional and local level but there is evidence that these could
be improved.
Environmental taxation
Since 2001, in Sweden, as a share of GDP environmentrelated taxes have not increased. This has been partly due to
the intended behavioural impacts of taxes, and an increased
substitution by biofuels in the transport sector. Also, the
relative advantage for diesel vehicles has eroded revenues
from the higher-taxed petrol vehicles as the vehicle stock has
changed.
Sweden’s move towards environmental taxes seems to have
lost some momentum since the end of the Green Tax Shift in
2006. The share of taxes related to transport remains fairly
modest, as are the taxes related to pollution and resources.
©: Mikael_Broms
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nvironment/eir/index
http://ec.europa.eu/e
February 2017
ISBN 978-92-79-65131-1
doi:10.2779/656466