This report investigates policy options for reducing consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and other air pollutants across the Nordic countries. Its focus includes key consumption sectors like food, electronics, textiles, and home furnishings, which significantly contribute to emissions both domestically and through imports. It also provides more general policy options. Nordic consumption has a large environmental footprint, leading to discussions about complementing territorial climate targets with consumption-based targets. A notable example is Sweden’s proposal to achieve net-zero consumption-based emissions by 2045.
In rich countries, consumption-based GHG emissions are typically higher than territorial GHG emissions. Both consumption-based and territorial emissions have decreased but it has been argued that this decrease has been insufficient to be in line with international agreements. The report also emphasizes that addressing GHGs often has co-benefits for other pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx), improving public health as well as environmental quality.
The report presents a mapping of around 100 policy options in a “longlist”. Of these, 21 promising policies were selected and analysed further using a so-called Policy Delphi method. Insights were gathered from 23 Nordic experts who ranked the policies on their potential to reduce emissions and their feasibility. The policies cover regulatory measures, such as emissions standards for products, as well as informational and economic instruments. Regulatory standards were rated highly for both effectiveness and feasibility, whereas policies targeting individual consumption behaviours, like flight restrictions, faced lower feasibility ratings due to expected public resistance.
The report concludes with recommendations, including improving statistics for consumption-based emissions, enhancing Nordic cooperation, and encouraging policy packages that integrate informational, economic and regulatory measures. These mixes are essential to reducing emissions effectively and ensure broad public acceptance. The report stresses that no single policy is a "silver bullet". Instead, a variety of mutually reinforcing or complementing policies will be key to achieving climate and other environmental goals.