The Nordic countries and municipalities aim to be forerunners in mitigating climate change
The national targets to reduce emissions are reflected in goals set by ambitious Nordic municipalities. In Finland, legislation sets a requirement for municipalities to set quantitative emission reductions. In all the Nordic countries, many municipalities act as green frontrunners and have set goals that even exceed those of the national goals.
A minority of municipalities track consumption-based emissions – but many plans to initiate work
In Norway, about a third of the municipalities monitored the consumption-based emissions of their own organization, whereas the share was less than 20 percent in the other countries. Depending on the country, currently only 10 to 25 percent of municipalities compiled wider consumption-based emissions within the municipality. The demand for such data is likely to increase leading to a need for municipal guidance and services that enable standardized calculations
The survey
An online survey was distributed to municipalities to explore the development, challenges, use, and aspirations concerning consumption-based inventories. The survey was distributed the official addresses of the municipalities and via the national municipal association in the case of Denmark. In Sweden, the survey was also distributed with support from the County Administrative Board and in Finland the survey was complemented with telephone interviews. Responses were obtained from 52 municipalities in Denmark (53% of all municipalities), 71 in Finland (23%), 71 in Norway (20%) and 68 in Sweden (24%). Especially in Finland and Norway it is likely that the sample is biased towards the municipalities with active climate engagement. The total number (n) of responding Nordic municipalities = 262.
General guidance on developing consumption-based inventories is available
Detailed data collection for consumption-based emissions is a resource-demanding task and relative few municipalities have the capacity to undertake it. General average estimates of the consumption-based emissions are, however, provided at national level for most Nordic countries. Local emissions from the use of grid-based energy can often be obtained from general data.
Municipality-specific household surveys can provide data on citizens’ consumption-based emissions. Such data has been collected by consultants or research organisations for specific case studies but is not available nationwide. Municipalities can take part in wider national or regional-level efforts and benefit from collaboration and work done by statistical offices and academia. In Sweden and Finland, for instance, consumption-based estimates have been provided for all municipalities as part of separately funded research initiatives. Regularly updated municipal-level consumption-based inventories are, however, still lacking. The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories - An Accounting and Reporting Standard for Cities
The use of consumption-based emission inventories
As part of the survey, we asked how the municipality would use the information on consumption-based emissions, should they have access to it. An overwhelming majority (close to 90 % across all four countries) of the respondents considered that consumption-based data could potentially be used to identify and prioritise actions that would reduce emissions (Figure 1).
Fig 1. The possible use of information about the municipality's consumption-based climate impact.
[note, there were slight translational variations in the exact linguistic formulation of the question in the national surveys]
* The services the municipality provides (school, elderly care, social security, etc.)
Most of the respondents reported that they have opportunities to influence consumption-based emission from the municipality as a society by co-operating with both residents and businesses, in addition to work on the municipality’s own activities (70–98 percent of respondents) (Figure 2).
Fig 2. Which actors can/should the municipality include and cooperate with in order to reduce total emissions from consumption in the municipality as a whole?
[note, there were slight translational variations in the exact linguistic formulation of the question in the national surveys]
The survey also showed that many municipalities already include climate criteria in their in-house public procurement. More accurate and detailed consumption-based information can strengthen climate friendly economic steering and prioritisation. Inventories of emissions of residents and businesses can help the municipality guide residents and businesses to reach reductions and thus support the municipalities on a path towards a responsible, just and sustainable society.