PRESS RELEASE 14 October 2009
Climate impact of new cars continues to decline
Carbon dioxide emissions from new cars in Sweden fell by 3.1 percent in the first half of 2009 compared with the whole of 2008, from 174 to 169 grams per kilometre. The Swedish figure can be compared with the EU average of 154 grams in 2008. This is apparent from an index of the climate impact of new cars, presented today by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Swedish Road Administration and the Swedish Consumer Agency.
There are wide differences between Swedish municipalities. Cars registered in Laholm, Överkalix and Burlöv emit around 30 percent more carbon dioxide than new cars in Lekeberg and Perstorp.
“It’s pleasing that emissions from new cars are continuing to decline, but the wide differences between municipalities show that it’s easily possible to bring them down even further. In the best municipalities we are below the EU average,” says Kjell Andersson, Head of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Transport and Energy Unit.
The carbon dioxide emissions of newly registered Swedish cars in the first half of 2009 averaged 169 grams per kilometre, equivalent to 7.1 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres. Emissions have fallen by just over three percent since 2008 (174 grams) and by seven percent since 2007 (181 grams).
The statistics are based on the EU’s way of measuring emissions, which means that cars running on ethanol and gas are assumed to run on petrol. If account is taken of the combined climate-related benefit of cars that run on ethanol and gas in Sweden, new cars on average emit 155 grams per kilometre, just above the EU average.
“Cars that run on ethanol and gas contribute to reducing the climate impact of traffic. But it’s important that these cars too are fuel-efficient and that they really do run on renewable fuels. Many drivers choose to fill up with petrol when it’s cheaper,” says Carl Magnus Berglund, an investigator at the Swedish Consumer Agency.
Increasingly fuel-efficient cars, an increased proportion of renewable fuels and a decline in traffic levels taken together meant that emissions from road traffic fell by 2 percent over the latest 12-month period.
“It’s encouraging that emissions are falling. If the climate-related targets are to be achieved there will also be a need for a change in travel behaviour and a long-term change in community structures and infrastructure, so that freight and passenger transport can become more efficient,” says Lars Nilsson, Environmental Director at the Swedish Road Administration.
The reduced fuel consumption of new cars in the first half of 2009 and the simultaneous scrapping of older, more fuel-thirsty cars are expected to lead to a decrease in emissions from the car fleet as a whole of around 95,000 tonnes. However, Sweden still has the the most fuel-thirsty fleet in the EU. If the emissions of the whole Swedish fleet were reduced in the longer term to an average of 120 grams per kilometre, which is the EU target, carbon dioxide emissions would fall by almost five million tonnes or just over seven percent of Sweden’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
The index of the climate impact of new cars contains statistics on new cars broken down by county and municipality, legal entities and private individuals (divided into men and women), and information on the types of car bought.
Facts about the 103,203 cars newly registered in Sweden in the first half of 2009 (figures for the whole of 2008 in brackets)
- 37.3 (40.1) percent run on petrol only and emit an average of 162.7 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre*
- 38.4 (36.0) percent run on diesel and emit an average of 162.2 (166.6) grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre
- 22.0 (23.4) percent can run on ethanol and have emissions equivalent to 134.5 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre (under the conditions that prevailed in the first half of 2009)
- 2.2 (0.5) percent can run on road fuel gas and have emissions equivalent to 81.1 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre (under the conditions that prevailed in the first half of 2009)
- 1.5 (2.6) percent were particularly fuel-thirsty cars (over 250 grams/kilometre)
- 14.3 (9.9) percent were particularly fuel-efficient cars (maximum 120 grams/kilometre)
* Emissions from cars only capable of running on petrol were not separately reported in a comparable way in previous years. The stated values include electric hybrids.
For further information, please contact:
Kjell Andersson, Head of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy and Transport Unit, +46 (0)76 886 64 65, kjell.andersson(a)naturvardsverket.se
Håkan Johansson, Environmental Strategy Unit, Swedish Road Administration,
+46 (0)73 077 77 10, hakan.johansson(a)vv.se
Carl Magnus Berglund, Swedish Consumer Agency Investigator,
+46 (0)54 19 40 86, carl.magnus.berglund(a)konsumentverket.se
Anneli Nivrén, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Public Relations Officer, +46 (0)8 698 13 12, +46 (0)70 206 37 27, anneli.nivren(a)naturvardsverket.se