Accumulated impacts from increased biofuel consumption in Sweden

About the project

Through ambitious targets and goals, Sweden has surpassed targets set by the EU for biofuel con­sumption and is a European leader in the consumption of biofuels. Correspondingly, the use of biofuels in Sweden has increased rapidly since 2000. In 2014 biofuels corresponded to roughly 12% of transportation fuels.

In the context of identifying the environmental implications of Swedish biofuel consumption, this project has reviewed the origins of fuels, and raw materials used to produce the fuels from 2000-2014. This was done to identify and provide a comprehensive review of environmental implications that biofuel consumption (including imports and domestic production) of fuels have both in Sweden and abroad using life cycle assessment.

The results suggest that the increase in biofuel consumption has been met largely in part through the introduction and expansion of HVO, an increasing biogas production and consumption market and the imports of raw materials and fuels from Europe and other nations abroad. The environmental assessments illustrate that while GHG emissions may have been reduced in Sweden by the use of biofuels, the origin of the emissions has shifted from Sweden to other coun­tries abroad; due largely in part to an increased use of biofuels and raw materials from abroad.

In summary, the project illustrate that although policy has been designed to promote sustaina­ble transportation fuels, the implications on regions exporting fuels and raw materials for Swedish consumption in addition to the generation goals set by the Swedish Parliament, should be reviewed in order to avoid problem shifting and promote domestic production.