Nordic Stocktake and Visions

About the project  

CONCITO has led a Nordic consortium consisting of CICERO Center for Climate Research, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, University of Iceland and Reykjavik University, and Tyrsky Consulting, who - for the Nordic Council of Ministers' Working Group on Climate and Air (NKL) – has taken stock of the Nordic countries' greenhouse gas emissions and the main barriers to achieving climate neutrality.   

All the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) have set targets for climate neutrality. However, not enough progress has been made.    

Since 1990, the Nordic countries have only reduced their total net emissions by around 26%, mainly due to significant emission reductions in the energy sector. There is therefore a need to further accelerate efforts in the industry, transportation, and agricultural sectors. Fortunately, many of the challenges faced by the countries are the same across the Nordic region. There is thus great potential for collaboration in areas such as the expansion of renewable energy on land, sustainable production and use of biofuels, and carbon taxes in industry and agriculture.   

We also need to start talking about a vision for a climate-neutral Nordic society.    

A vision for a climate-neutral society is crucial to build support for the societal transformation the Nordic countries need to embrace. Visions are also crucial to ensure that we do not "just" decarbonize our economy but instead use the green transition to create a better life for all citizens in the climate neutral Nordic society.  

_{The main conclusions and results of the project are summarized in the video above. Made by MarengDeluxe.}

The project was carried out from April 2023 through November 2023 and resulted in two main reports:   

• Nordic Stocktake – Pathways to Climate Neutrality : https://pub.norden.org/temanord2023-545/
• Nordic Visions of Climate Neutrality : https://pub.norden.org/nord2023-038/

The main results of the project are summarized in Nordic Stocktake and Visions – Project Findings & Recommendations. 

In addition, the project organized five webinars on topics of particular importance for achieving climate neutrality in the Nordic countries. The webinars were recorded, and a short policy brief was written for each:   

Consumption-based emissions analyses – how and why?
Recording:   https://youtu.be/Bit8NSpDdac
Policy brief:

CCS and CDR in the context of Nordic carbon neutrality
Recording:  https://youtu.be/yDDI9w53cxc
Policy brief:

Decarbonizing the Nordic power system
Recording:  https://youtu.be/d-wgLz1ujaA?si=zjPRafGxe788pZhr
Policy brief: 

Carbon Pricing
Recording:  https://youtu.be/k2kEaiJloXA?si=2lr7RnpNKGUUrElK
Policy brief:

Future of transport biofuels in the Nordics
Policy brief: