3. Reader’s guide to the stocktake report

The report describes and assesses emissions from the five countries in the Nordic region: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Emissions and removals from Greenland, Faroe Islands and Aaland are included in the emissions statistics from Denmark and Finland, respectively.

For the Nordic Council of Ministers, the organizations CONCITO, CICERO, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, University of Iceland and Reykjavik University, and Tyrsky Consulting have carried out this assessment. The consortium has taken stock of GHG emissions in the Nordic countries, described and assessed the national pathways towards climate neutrality in the Nordic region. The report also addresses issues of timing and adequacy of the pathways and strategies for reaching climate neutrality in the Nordic countries and opportunities for further Nordic collaboration.

This project is a part of the initiative “Climate transition in the Nordics” to support the Nordic Vision 2030. The overall aim of the Nordic Vision is to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. All co-operation in the Nordic Council of Ministers must serve this purpose. The objectives of the vision include to strengthen research and development and the promotion of solutions that support climate neutrality and climate adaptation. The work of the Nordic Council of Ministers should also contribute to the positive development of international co-operation on the environment and climate, such as by promoting Nordic green solutions to the rest of the world.

The Nordic Stocktake is intended as a regional tool to support the Global Stocktake process and spur to further climate action, both within the Nordics and beyond. The political phase of the UNFCCC Global Stocktake (GST) will be conducted during COP28 in December 2023. The Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake process is designed to assess the global response to the climate crisis every five years, with this year’s stocktake being the first ever. The GST will illustrate how we make progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement globally, and the gaps in meeting them.

In the first chapter (Climate neutrality targets in the Nordic countries), we give an overview of the countries’ climate neutrality targets and the development in emissions/removals from 1990 to 2021 across the Nordic region.

In the chapters following, we describe each country’s climate neutrality target, the status of GHG emissions in that country and – where possible – an assessment of how adequate and timely the pathways are towards achieving climate neutrality. Countries are described in alphabetical order.

After the country chapters, five chapters are dedicated to exploring status, development, pathways, challenges and opportunities in the given sector. The five sectors are:

The sectors are delimited according to the IPCC Guidelines for emission statistics and might not align with national sector delimitations and categories.

Finally, the last chapter in this report (Further opportunities for Nordic collaboration) describes further opportunities for Nordic collaboration not covered in the sector chapters.