How is the climate faring? How good is the quality of our urban air? What steps do we need to take to protect nature and wildlife? These are a few of the many questions that engage the Agency.
We are the public agency in Sweden that has an overview of conditions in the environment and progress in environmental policy. We also have the task of coordinating, monitoring and evaluating efforts, involving many agencies, to meet Sweden’s environmental objectives.
The Environmental Protection Agency is one of many stakeholders with responsibility for the environment. For this very reason, joint action — working with other stakeholders and coordinating our inputs — is increasingly important. In many ways, this is a fundamental change that imposes new demands on how we work and what we do.
Our vision is ‘a good living environment for humans and all other living things, now and for future generations’. Our objective is to leave for posterity a society in which the major environmental problems are solved, without causing more severe environmental and health problems beyond Sweden’s borders.
The Agency works on behalf of the Swedish Government. Our remit comprises:
- compiling knowledge and documentation to develop our own and others’ environmental efforts
- helping to develop environmental policy by providing the Government with a sound basis for decisions and by giving an impetus to EU and international efforts
- joining in environmental policy implementation by acting in such a way as to ensure compliance with the Swedish Environmental Code and achievement of the national environmental objectives.
The threefold nature of our remit is reflected in our organisation. This is designed to enable us, more clearly and effectively, to foster progress and meet our clients’ needs and expectations. Examples of our clients are companies, municipalities, county administrative boards, organisations, other agencies and visitors to national parks.
Our client focus makes responsiveness, dialogue and openness crucial to our way of working and collaborating with others. This in turn makes us ever better at understanding and meeting our clients’ needs and expectations. The aim is for what we deliver to be of benefit, even if it sometimes takes a few years before the results become discernible.
To us, it is important to show how our society gains from benefiting the environment.
The Environmental Protection Agency has a workforce of some 530, 460 of whom are employed at the head office in Stockholm. We also have offices in Östersund and Kiruna.