Swedish consumption and the global environment
Swedish consumers have impacts on the environment in other countries, for example through atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases and acidifying pollutants, releases of chemicals, and use of water and land. Transport at the various stages in product life cycles also affects the environment.
Report on environmental impacts of consumption
Growing international trade is making it increasingly difficult to determine the overall pressures on the environment arising from consumption. It also means that it is not possible to take a narrow national view of global environmental issues.
This is made clear in a report from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Chemicals Agency.
Actual water consumption is hidden
A large proportion of the water used by consumers in Sweden is ‘hidden’ in the products they consume. To produce a cup of coffee, for instance, it takes 140 litres of water, while a 150 gram hamburger requires 2,400 litres. To make a cotton T-shirt weighing half a kilogram, 4,100 litres of water are used.
25–35 per cent more greenhouse gases
Overall, consumption in Sweden in 2003 gave rise to greenhouse gas emissions of 95 million tonnes, calculated as carbon dioxide equivalents. That is 25–35 per cent more than if we simply add up the emissions occurring in Sweden.
Land required both in Sweden and abroad
Swedish consumption also affects land use abroad. Between 30 and 50 per cent of all the land required to produce the food Sweden consumes is outside the country’s borders. The report cites coffee and beef as examples of foods which Sweden imports in large quantities and which have impacts on, among other things, land use in other countries.
Emissions from the use of chemicals
Sweden imports clothes and a wide range of other products that are manufactured using chemicals. Not uncommonly, these imports come from countries with poorly developed controls on chemicals and inadequate environmental legislation. In such countries, emissions may be hundreds of times higher than if the goods were produced in countries with more highly developed regulations.
This report is intended as a first step
Up to now, the international dimension of Sweden’s environmental objectives has not been clear. Following recent changes to the system of objectives, environmental efforts in Sweden will also take into account the pressures on the global environment for which this country is responsible. The report now being published is a first step in that direction.
The aim of the report is to provide basic data for further work on the question of Sweden’s adverse global environmental impacts from a consumption point of view. This approach is intended as a complement to existing follow-up of progress towards the sixteen national environmental quality objectives.