Por primera vez se reúnen en un mismo documento las soluciones de política alimentaria más innovadoras de la región nórdica. Este Menú de Soluciones abarca nutrición, cultura e identidad alimentarias, comida y alimentación públicas, desperdicio de alimentos y dietas sostenibles. Incluye 24 ejemplos de políticas locales, nacionales y regionales diseñadas para suscitar nuevas conversaciones e inspirar nuevas políticas en otras partes del mundo. Cada una de las soluciones supone un paso tangible para abordar un problema específico; en su conjunto, representan un enfoque nuevo e integral a la política alimentaria. También dan testimonio de cómo las políticas blandas pueden traducirse en soluciones y desempeñar un importante papel en la consecución de objetivos ambiciosos a nivel nacional e internacional.

This report provides a framework for circular procurement and discusses its possibilities to promote circular economy. Several best practice examples in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway illustrate how and in which sectors and product groups circular procurement could be applicable. Different approaches to circular procurement and tendering criteria supporting circular aspects are also illustrated.The study was carried out in Nordic co-operation by Finnish Environment Institute, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Copenhagen Resource Institute. The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), administrated by the NCM Sustainable Consumption and Production Working Group and guided by a steering group consisting representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

This protocol was developed and subsequently tested in 2012-2015 by Nordic test and research institutes, with Danish Technological Institute (DTI) as project manager. This protocol describes a potential standardized procedure for measurements of BC (Black Carbon) in terms of both EC (Elemental Carbon) and OC (Organic Carbon) from residential wood burning stoves. Such a standardized test can then be used for voluntary eco-labeling of wood stoves, and by manufacturers interested in testing and developing extremely low-emission, low-black carbon, “climate-friendly” stoves. This testing protocol is part of a project supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), and implemented by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI).

This is a guideline for plastic sorting at recycling centres. The aim is to assist the management of recycling centres in their choices in order to collect plastic of better quality and in greater quantities. Potential plastic categories are listed and described together with Issues to take into account when choosing how to organise the collection at the recycling centre.The report is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers' initiative: “The Nordic Region – leading in green growth” – www.norden.org/greengrowth. Read also more in the web magazine “Green Growth the Nordic Way” at www.nordicway.org

This is a guideline for plastic sorting at recycling centres. The aim is to give assistance to the choices made by the management of recycling centres in order to collect plastic of better quality and in greater quantities. In the guideline, the potential plastic categories are listed and described, also with respect to potential content of hazardous substances. Issues to take into account when choosing how to organise the collection of plastic at the recycling centre are described. A separate chapter looks at how the public could be assisted with the sorting of plastics at the recycling centres.

The guideline is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers' overall green growth initiative: “The Nordic Region – leading in green growth” - read more in the web magazine “Green Growth the Nordic Way” at www.nordicway.org or at www.norden.org/greengrowth

This report is a background report for the "Guideline for plastic sorting at recycling centres". The background report describes the methodology used in preparing the guideline, including information from existing systems and the stakeholders that can be used by the recycling centres in their decision process. The report describes the importance of communicating with purchasers about the expected purity and traceability of the plastic further down the value chain.

The report is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers’ initiative: “The Nordic Region – leading in green growth” – read also more in the web magazine “Green Growth the Nordic Way” at www.nordicway.org

The main background for this guideline is the Nordic e-Health Standardization group’s mandate topic which deals with contributing and communicating the initiative of “Reducing clinician burden” (RCB) - initiative. It has become increasingly important to ascertain how one might support healthcare professionals’ daily work and how to facilitate better data quality using e-Health standards. The Nordic work group has formulated some principles and recommendations all stakeholders involved in standardization work should follow. They are intended to apply to improving data quality, to support daily work and to contribute to reducing the overall burden of clinical work to healthcare professionals.

ÅF Ljud & Vibrationer har på uppdrag av Nordiska ministerrådets BAT-grupp, som är en undergrupp till arbetsgruppen för hållbar konsumtion och produktion, utfört en studie kring bästa tillgängliga teknik, s.k. BAT(Best Available Technique) avseende dämpning av externt industribuller från livsmedelsindustrier och hamnverksamheter. Rapporten är framtagen i syfte att identifiera de tekniker, som ska beaktas när BAT ska bestämmas, för att begränsa bulleralstrande mekanismer och arbetsmoment inom externt industribuller. Tio respektive elva stycken tekniker presenteras och de fokuserar på de ljudalstrande mekanismer som olika maskiner och verksamheter ger upphov till, samt vad som kan göras för att minimera buller till omgivningen, BAT. Resultatet visar att en tillämpning av BAT medför att respektive bullerkällas bullerbidrag till omgivningen kan reduceras avsevärt.

I denna rapport redovisas förslag till samarbetsfrågor inom kemikalieområdet inför utvecklingen av det nordiska samarbetsprogrammet för klimat och miljö 2019–2024. Rapporten är resultatet av en workshop i november 2017 då chefer och experter vid nordiska kemikaliemyndigheter diskuterade strategiskt viktiga områden inom kemikaliekontrollen på nationell nivå, i Norden, i EU och i ett internationellt perspektiv för 2019-2024 samt i ett längre perspektiv för att bidra till att uppfylla målen i Agenda 2030.

Punkterna i kemikalieavsnittet i Miljöhandlingsprogrammet 2013-2018 ansågs fortsatt relevanta för nya huvudtemat ”Kemikalier – miljö och hälsa” och nya frågor identifierades. Kemikaliefrågor ansågs vara viktiga även för det nya programmets övriga huvudteman: Cirkulär ekonomi, Klimat och luft, Biologisk mångfald samt Kust och hav. Rapporten innehåller förslag på sådana frågor.

Northern fulmars are seabirds which feed exclusively at sea, and as such, they are useful indicators of ocean health. Marine plastic pollution is an ever-increasing and global issue that affects the northern fulmar as they are frequently found to have ingested plastic. In this report we investigate whether the amount of ingested plastic affects the concentration of certain plastic-adsorbed toxicants in their tissues. Marine plastic pollution is a field of utmost importance. It is our hope that this continues to be an area which receives increased attention in order to elucidate the potential harmful effects plastics have on the northern fulmar and ocean health, in general.

A crucial question in the development of a new climate change agreement centres on the “intended nationally determined contributions” (INDCs) that parties have agreed to communicate before the COP 21 in Paris in December 2015. This paper explores options for the design, organization and timing of the ex ante assessment process of the INDCs. It identifies key choices to be made in Lima, and the implications of these choices for the road to Paris. Finally, it discusses the implications of the design, organization and timing of the assessment for future review processes under a Paris agreement.

What role do evaluations for environmental policies have in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden? And could evaluations be better implemented in order to create and uphold effective and efficient environmental policies? These are the two questions this study aims at answering. The study focuses on three main areas in regard to ex-ante and ex-post evaluations for environmental policies: Organisation, guidelines and specific evaluations. As a result of the analysis, a number of lessons learnt for the three investigated areas are found and a set of recommendations on how to improve the evaluation of environmental policies in the Nordic countries in the future are provided.

Recycling of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) traditionally focuses on large quantities of waste materials such as plastics. However, some product groups in the WEEE contain hidden treasures in the form of critical metals. This project assesses the critical metals’ waste handling as part of five selected product groups, in the Nordic region. The environmental and economic benefits from the recycling of these metals currently and in the near future is quite substantial, mainly due to the presence of significant quantities of gold in the selected products. In order to contribute further to the circular economy concept, the Nordic countries should pay attention not only to quantitative but also to qualitative aspects of recycling, in order to capture recyclable materials that, although in small quantities, their recycling brings a high economic and environmental value.

By 2025, the aim for all Nordic countries is to have mandatory life cycle GHG disclosures for buildings in place, leading up to the EPBD GHG disclosure introduced in 2028 and 2030. Denmark introduced a carbon limit in 2023 for large buildings, with Sweden and Finland planning to follow by 2025. Strategies vary, with Sweden and Norway starting with mandatory declarations in 2022 and Denmark introducing a limit value from the beginning alongside the climate declaration. Harmonizing methods for fair competition and stimulating low-carbon solutions is essential. Uniform reference areas and a minimum scope covering upfront carbon emissions are recommended for consistent assessments, alongside agreed definitions of biogenic carbon and compatible database structures for the national generic emission factors and building model classifications.

The purpose of this study was to clear out how Green Public Procurement has been realized in state framework contracts in the Nordic countries, to propose country-specific ways to improve the situation, and to draw a general model of efficient ways to realize green state framework contracts. The study was carried through in 2014 and 2015 by Bjørn Bauer and Rikke Fischer-Bogason (PlanMiljø, Denmark), Luitzen de Boer and Sigurd Vildåsen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), and Timo Kivistö (Kivistö Consulting, Finland). The study was supervised by the Working Group of Nordic Council of Ministers for Sustainable Consumption and Production (i.e. HKP-group).

In addition to this Full Report, the project has also resulted in a short Summary Report and a power point presentation (slides), including the key findings and conclusions.

Green Public Procurement, GPP, can be an important driver of green transition – and must be dealt with accordingly. All five Nordic countries have established framework contracts at state level and have allocated the responsibility for the State Framework Contracts (SFC) to certain organisations:

• Denmark: Moderniseringsstyrelsen and SKI

• Finland: Hansel Ltd

• Iceland: Rikiskaup

• Sweden: Kammarkollegiet

• Norway: DiFi, HINAS

The roles of these units differ, partly due to differences in the overall national structure.

This is a short Summary Report with key findings and conclusions based on the Full Report (TN2016:506), which includes detailed country studies. The study was carried through in 2014 and 2015 and supervised by the Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production (i.e. HKP-group) of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

This report explores what the Nordic countries can do to promote the use of recyclable plastic components in electrical and electronic products, with particular focus on minimising their hazardous chemical component. The report provides an overview of the hazardous additives currently used in the plastic components of EEE, drawing on information available from legislation and supporting studies, research and academia, NGOs and market actors. The results presented here build upon input collected though a literature study, a policy analysis of EU and Nordic legislation and initiatives, interviews with experts across the value chain and an expert workshop. Together these inputs were used to assess and qualify possible future actions in the Nordic countries to minimise hazardous chemicals in plastic components of EEE.

The Nordic countries rank high in international reports of nations' progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Along with other industrialised countries, however, the Nordic countries have been ranked poorly in their progress towards SDG 12, which concerns Sustainable Consumption and Production. This report looks closer at the Nordic countries' main challenges in achieving SDG12 and sets out recommendations for Nordic collaboration to tackle these.

Policy Brief: Ecodesign Requirements for Textiles and Furniture The EU Eco design Directive’s potential for application to nonenergy related themes has come under the spotlight in recent years with Nordic countries at the forefront. A large part of the lifecycle environmental impacts of a product are determined at the design stage.

In this report potential eco design requirements that can be drawn up for non-energy-related products are in focus. Textiles are here used as an example, and a light application of the approach has subsequently been applied to the furniture sector. Clothing and home textiles were chosen due to significant wastage in the value chain due to fast fashion, dropping quality and relatively low repair and reuse rates.

The project was initiated, financed and steered by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production and carried out by a consultant team led by PlanMiljø.

A large part of the lifecycle environmental impacts of a product are determined at the design stage, why The EU Eco design Directive’s potential for application to non-energy related themes has come under the spotlight in recent years with Nordic countries at the forefront. In this report potential eco design requirements that can be drawn up for non-energy-related products are in focus. Textiles are here used as an example, and a light application of the approach has subsequently been applied to the furniture sector. Clothing and home textiles were chosen due to significant wastage in the value chain due to fast fashion, dropping quality and relatively low repair and reuse rates.The project was initiated and financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and led by its Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production. A separate Policy Brief (ANP2018:739) is also published.

This project identifies improvements in plastics recycling from Nordic electronic waste. Limited improvement is possible through modest changes in the existing value chain, such as ensuring that wastes are directed as intended. But for the most part, enhanced plastics recycling implies higher costs. The necessary changes could be driven in part through revised policy and regulatory instruments. These changes might, in turn, encourage more positive engagement from electronics producers.

The report is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers' overall green growth initiative: “The Nordic Region – leading in green growth”. Read more in the web magazine “Green Growth the Nordic Way” at www.nordicway.org or at www.norden.org/greengrowth

This policy brief on recycling of WEEE, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, is part of the Nordic Prime Ministers’ green growth initiative, The Nordic Region – leading in green growth. Read more about the initiative in the web magazine Green Growth the Nordic Way at www.nordicway.org or at www.norden.org/greengrowth

This report describes the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Nordic region, the drivers and pressures affecting them, interactions and effects on people and society, and options for governance. The main report consists of two volumes. Volume 1 The general overview (this report) and Volume 2 The geographical case studies. This study has been inspired by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES). It departs from case studies (Volume 2, the geographical case studies) from ten geographical areas in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) and the autonomous areas of Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. The aim was to describe status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Nordic region, including the drivers and pressures affecting these ecosystems, the effects on people and society and options for governance. The Nordic study is structured as closely as possible to the framework for the regional assessments currently being finalized within IPBES. The report highlights environmental differences and similarities in the Nordic coastal areas, like the inhabitants´ relation to nature and the environment as well as similarities in social and policy instruments between the Nordic countries. This study provides background material for decision-making and it is shown that Nordic cooperation is of great importance for sustainable coastal management and should be strengthened in future work.

A modern society needs access to critical raw materials (CRM) that are necessary for maintaining and developing its industries, infrastructure and welfare system. Europe has been facing increasing challenges in meeting its need for these materials, which are defined by their high economic importance and significant supply risk. The implementation of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) of EU aims to reduce this vulnerability by establishing a framework to ensure the Union's access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. One important measure highlighted by this regulation is to increase CRM recycling. This report describes potential measures and instruments that may be relevant for Nordic countries and territories as tools for hitting the CRM recycling targets that CRMA introduces.

This report contributes to a Nordic IPBES-like assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Nordic coastal areas. It is based on ten geographical cases in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) and Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. The purpose is to reflect upon local biodiversity and ecosystem services, e.g. status and trends, drivers of change and policies for governance, and what future we are to expect. The cases describe the situation in the Näätämö area, Kalix archipelago, Quark, Lake Puruvesi, Bay of Lumparn, Öresund, Helgeland archipelago, Faroe Islands, the northern coastline of Iceland, and Disko Bay. It stretches from fresh water areas to ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean and from urbanised areas with heavy pressures on the environment, e.g. Öresund, to sparsely populated areas, like Greenland with a population of around 0.03 habitants/km2.

This study is one of the outcomes of the project ‘Nordic-Russian bioeconomy pre-study’ financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2017. This study provides an overview of the current status and support framework for a bioeconomy in the Arkhangelsk region, Russia. It presents some key institutions and stakeholders in driving bioeconomy development in the region, and analyzes challenges and opportunities in transition to a bioeconomy. Finally, it highlights some topics of interest for the Nordic-Russian business and research collaboration in the field of forest- and waste-based bioeconomy based on the discussions with the Russian and Nordic stakeholders.

This is a report from a Nordic workshop on the SciRAP tools and their application in regulatory hazard and risk assessment, which was organised in Stockholm in November 2016. Thirty-one experts in toxicology and ecotoxicology from authorities and academia in the five Nordic countries attended the workshop. Participant presentations concerning specific issues and challenges in evaluating data for regulatory assessments of chemicals, as well as a pre-workshop exercise using the SciRAP tools provided the basis for discussions. Overall, the conclusion was that the SciRAP tools are useful to Nordic authorities when evaluating (eco)toxicity studies for hazard and risk assessment. Improvements to the SciRAP tools and website were suggested. The outcome of the workshop will be useful in moving forward and making further developments to the SciRAP tools to meet end-users’ needs.

The report Baltic 2030: Bumps on the Road provides an overview of the 2030 Agenda implementation in the Baltic Sea Region, aimed at informing strategy and prioritisation discussions for national and regional collaboration. For each of the region’s eleven countries, performance on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is examined and five selected SDGs are discussed at the indicator level. Based on this analysis, the authors recommend seven avenues for action where greater collaboration in the region can support SDG achievement. The report was commissioned by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and iis jointly published by CBSS and the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM). It was drafted by the advisory firm Nordic Sustainability and follows the previous Bumps on the Road to 2030 report published by the NCM in 2017.

The Arctic is undergoing rapid climate change, and the shrinking sea ice opens up possibilities of exploring more of the Arctic Ocean for economic development, including new sea routes. Maritime activity and particularly commercial shipping, including cruise ship tourism, cargo transportation and fishing vessels, is projected to increase substantially. There are evident risks to human safety and environmental security related to an increase of shipping in the Arctic. This report focues on how the Nordic countries can together work towards increase environmental security in Arctic waters and reduce risks associated with increased shipping activity in the region.

The Nordic Partnership Initiative on Upscaled Mitigation Action (NPI) supported developing countries in designing and implementing mitigation action and attracting funding from international climate finance and carbon markets. In Peru, the initiative focused on building readiness for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in the municipal solid waste sector. It generated comprehensive information on the sector’s status and trends in terms of waste and emissions, mitigation potential and costs, and barriers to action. Mitigation plans for landfills were prepared, a robust information system developed, and policy reforms introduced for recognising waste as a valuable raw material. The NPI results have been integrated into national and local development plans and serve as valuable building blocks in the design and implementation of Peru’s mitigation pledges under the Paris Agreement.

This booklet presents actions taken by the Nordic countries to speed the transition to a sustainable low-carbon society. It shows how sustainable development is possible, with strong climate policies contributing to economic growth and job creation as well as environmental improvements. The Nordic countries successfully demonstrate how ambitious climate change mitigation targets and policies can be combined with high levels of human development.

In 2013, the Nordic Ministers for the Environment decided to strenghten the measurement of green estimates of welfare and socio-economic developments. The report Making the Environment Count is describing how statistics on the environment and the economy thorugh the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts can be used to enable cross-sectorial analysis. The report proposes indicators that can be compiled annually in a Nordic context through existing statistics linking economic statistics to environmental statistics.

Marine litter is a global environmental problem that endangers wildlife and has great socio-economic and aesthetic impacts. To identify sources of marine litter is an important key in order to propose cost-effective measures. Pick analyses of beach litter have therefore been conducted in order to categorise litter items from a product perspective. The results confirm that plastic are the most common litter material found on beaches in the Nordic countries. Short life items and packaging are dominating, which is strongly linked to individual consumers. It is further concluded that the plastics and packaging industry has an important role to play to decrease the amount of marine litter.

Marine litter is a growing environmental problem where especially plastic material is accumulated in the seas where it will fragment to smaller pieces. The purpose of the presented pilot study is to raise awareness amongst officials at municipalities and authorities about the need to reduce the presence of litter in the marine environment and to give ideas/suggestions on how this can be done. The project has therefore developed a “Plug the Marine Litter Tap”-approach, which together with local knowledge and experience, can be used to identify sources of marine debris by using existing statistics. Södertälje is used as a pilot area where we give examples on indicators for marine litter in the urban environment and proposed measures for each indicator. We hope that this will encourage municipalities to reflect on how preventive measures against marine litter can be incorporated in local waste management plans and become part of their regular routine.

Per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) make up a large group of substances that have been used for decades. There has been increasing focus on this group of substances as some of them have shown to be extremely persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. There is however, a large number of these compounds in use and for many of them there is little knowledge about the health and environmental properties. This project is a follow up of a NORAP project from 2012 where the main conclusion was the limited knowledge of which perfluorinated substances are used, and in what amounts. Our aim for this study was thus to gather more information on the use and the incidence of these substances in some every-day products

Nordsyn är ett nordiskt samarbete kring marknadskontroll/tillsyn av ekodesign och energimärkning. Inom Nordsyn har ett samarbete kring informationsutbyte, implementering och testresultat byggts upp, samt viktiga studier genomförts och informationsmaterial tagits fram. Nordsyns Effektprojekt visar att marknadskontrollen är mycket kostnadseffektiv, särskilt när länder samarbetar. Resultat från studier och informationsmaterial från Nordsyn kan med fördel användas även av övriga EU/EES-länder för att förbättra marknadskontrollen. Denna slutrapport presenterar kortfattat Nordsyn 2013-2015. Mer information, delrapporter och informationsmaterial finns på www.norden.org/nordsyn/pub

The Nordic Green Ammonia Powered Ships (NoGAPS) project has brought together key players from the Nordic shipping and energy value chains to develop a first-of-a-kind ammonia-powered gas carrier, the M/S NoGAPS. 

This report provides a summary of the main outputs and findings from the second phase of the NoGAPS project. It begins with an overview of the vessel design for M/S NoGAPS, outlining the general arrangement of the vessel and key design decisions behind it. This is followed by a deep dive into the commercialisation or early ammonia-powered vessels, using NoGAPS as a case study. The topic is explored from two angles: ship financing and wider economic viability.   

The Working Group on Environment and Economy of the Nordic Council of Ministers publishes regular reports on the use of economic instruments in Nordic environmental policy. This report is part of that series and has two parts. Part 1 presents an overview of the use of economic instruments in Nordic environmental policy, with a focus on policy changes over the period 2010-2013. Part 2 develops a framework for assessing the political possibilities of reforming environmentally harmful subsidies, and applies this framework to three cases relevant in the Nordic context. The report was prepared by Copenhagen Economics, GreenStream Network and Environice. The authors of the report are Hrafnhildur Bragadóttir, Carl von Utfall Danielsson, Roland Magnusson, Sampo Seppänen, Amanda Stefansdotter and David Sundén.

The purpose of the report is to clarify the legal possibilities of restricting export of certain types of used EEE due to e.g. content of hazardous substances, energy consumption and/or limited market value.

The focus is current environmental regulation and trade regulation which have been evaluated in order to identify if they can serve as the legal basis for setting restrictions on export.

The analysis concentrates on the legal framework of trade within the rules of the internal market in the EU and the legal concept of the WTO that regulates trade between countries worldwide.

The report concludes that waste regulation has very limited possibilities in regards to restricting export of used EEE. In regards to trade restrictions, it cannot be ruled out that such restrictions can be adopted in accordance with the rules of the internal market in the EU and the legal concept of WTO.

Underpricing of fossil fuels, caused by subsidies, drives carbon intensive consumption. Reforming fossil fuel subsidies and allocating some of the savings to sustainable energy could accelerate a transition to fairer, safer, cleaner and more sustainable energy systems. This report outlines the Nordic Council of Ministers’ work to promote these swaps through the development of a business model and description of the link between fossil fuel subsidies, reforms and carbon emissions. The report evaluates potential swaps to increase industrial energy efficiency in the mining sector, in the context of energy sector reforms in Zambia; and the replacement of butane subsidies with solar investments in Morocco. The report also presents an outline of how Nordic countries are supporting reforms and driving the swaps agenda as part of Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges.

Tests of plastic packaging in Finland and Norway exposed products that are lost in the sorting process and are not recycled. Products that proved challenging to sort or recycle were then presented to their producers. To assist producers in making favourable decisions, fact sheets with design guidelines were developed for common plastics, HDPE, PP, LDPE and bio-based and biodegradable plastics, to highlight which design choices best help improve recyclability. These also include Norway-specific information on the downstream value chain for plastics. Producers have shown a willingness to improve their products to increase the level of recyclability. These developments show how higher recycling rates of plastic packaging can be achieved by supporting Nordic producers in implementing design for recyclability principles when designing their packaging.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has a long tradition for highlighting solutions to theenvironmental challenges in their working groups, research programs and publications.This reports aim to summarize some of the recent work on greater resource efficiencyand greener economic growth and development in the Nordic countries, including corebackground documents from the Nordic Council of Ministers, The Nordic primeministers’ Working Group for Green Growth, and the EU, research studies related togreen growth financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Oslo conference onGreen economic growth held in March 2012. The report was commissioned by theNordic Council of Ministers, with Øyvind Lone, chair of its Working Group onEnvironment and Economy, as contact person.

Microplastics in marine bivalves from the Nordic environment: MP were analysed in mussels at 100 sites from Grenland to the Baltic. MP were found in 4 out of 5 species. The coastal waters of the North Sea, Kattegat, Skagerrak, and the western Baltic appear to be areas of MP accumulation. Mussels from urbanized areas and harbours contained the most MP. The abundance of MP was especially high in the Oslofjord. A total of 11 different polymer types were detected through 3 chemical characterisation methodes. Black rubbery particles, possibly derived from tyre wear, were the dominant particle type. The presence of rubber compounds was confirmed for Blue mussels (Mytilus) in analysis using pyrolysis GC-MS. This is the first study to document these polymer types in mussels. Mussels, especially Mytilus spp., Limecola balthica and Abra nitida are suitable for monitoring of MP in Nordic waters.

This report summarises the knowledge on plastics in Nordic marine species. Nordic biota interacts with plastic pollution, through entanglement and ingestion. Ingestion has been found in many seabirds and also in stranded mammals. Ingestion of plastics has been documented in 14 fish species, which many of them are of ecology and commercially importance. Microplastics have also been found in blue mussels and preliminary studies found synthetic fibres in marine worms. Comparability between and within studies of plastic ingestion by biota from the Nordic environment and other regions are difficult as there are: few studies and different methods are used. It is important that research is directed towards the knowledge gaps highlighted in this report, to get a better understanding on plastic ingestion and impact on biota from the Nordic marine environment.

The EU’s Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency obliges Member States to develop programmes to encourage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve energy efficiency by implementing energy audits and the recommendations that stem from these audits. This study looks at the barriers that SMEs face and the existing policy instruments in more detail and analyses which practices are working. The study concludes that SMEs cannot be effectively targeted with solely uniform solutions even within the same country and even though many of them face similar barriers. More emphasis is needed on sharing information and best practices and guiding SMEs to implement energy efficiency improvements after having identified the opportunities. The good news is that many good practices already exist and there is potential to improve. Now it is just a question of taking action.

Is it posible linking biodiversity to macro economic models, thereby increasing our understanding of how economic activities affect biodiversity – et vice versa? It is the key question that this report aims at answering on the basis of existing statistics, indicators and models in the Scandinavian countries. 

The economic sectors identified as relevant for biodiversity are: agriculture; forestry; fishery; tourism; transport; and energy (especially, hydropower). The main pressure types analysed include: habitat loss and degradation; climate change; excessive nutrient load and other forms of pollution; over-exploitation and unsustainable use; and invasive alien species.

A set of recommendations for further work are made focusing on impacts of economic activities on biodiversity.

The textile industry is one of the world's largest industries. The fashion and textile industry is also one of the most polluting and resource-consuming industries in the world. Ecolabels such as the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel can play an important role in reducing the environmental impact of textiles purchased in Nordic countries. The project aims to identify barriers to more ecolabelled textiles on the Nordic consumer market and initiate activities and actions to remedy these. The project has also taken a global perspective, identifying how producers in e.g. India and Turkey can be encouraged to engage in eco-labelling. The study was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and carried out by Nordic Ecolabelling with a subgroup of the Nordic Sustainable Consumption and Production group (HKP) as steering group

This report presents results from the NovasArc project that has collated data on the distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. Eleven VMEs were identified, based on management goals for coral and sponge communities. Many of the vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the study area has a wide distribution. Soft and hard bottom sponge aggregations, hard bottom gorgonians, sublittoral sea pen communities, and cauliflower corals are predicted to cover > 20% of the study area shallower than 1000 meters.

Of the anthropogenic activities in the study area bottom trawling represents the main threat to the VMEs. The compilation of trawling activity in the study area shows that fisheries mainly occurs shallower than 1000 meters and that 50 to 60% of the seafloor is not targeted. However, 30% of the seafloor has experienced intermediate to very high fishing effort.

In general, the VMEs shows a larger overlap with fishing when the risk analysis is based on areas with an optimal habitat suitability. Using this conservative threshold to model the distribution of VMEs the results indicate that most VMEs have experienced an intermediate to high level of fishing in less than 40% of their distribution area in the whole study area.

Public finances in the Nordics are facing great future challenges due to demographic developments. Increasing longevity is changing the age structure of the population, significantly raising the share of older people and thus the old-age dependency ratio. Over the last two decades, there has been a strong international trend to strengthen fiscal frameworks by adopting more stringent fiscal rules as well as increasing transparency and accountability. A first aim of the report is to survey and evaluate the fiscal frameworks in the Nordic countries. A second aim is to review how long-run sustainability analyses of public finances are made – and communicated to policy-makers and the general public – in the Nordics, by Ministries of Finance as well as by other institutions. The report also concludes the severity of the fiscal-sustainability problems in the Nordic countries.

The present study has investigated and collected sales statistics of pharmaceuticals in Sweden, Norway and Iceland. A literature review of waste water treatment plants (WWTP) and the efficiency of different WWTP techniques was conducted and combined with a literature review of metabolization of pharmaceuticals in humans. These data have been linked and used for calculations of the amount of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites that actually reaches the aquatic recipient. A future recommendation is to include metabolites of pharmaceuticals in environmental impact studies to be able to assess and account for the chemicals that actually pass through a WWTP to the aquatic environment. No large differences regarding pharmaceuticals used were observed, and many were common in both Sweden, Iceland and Norway.