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.

Green Public Procurement (GPP) can play a significant a role in efforts to influence the private sector towards more sustainable products and services. Following an account of the environmental impact of Nordic public procurement, the project provides an assessment of the potential of strengthening GPP within three key product groups in Nordic public procurement: Taxi and coach services, Computers and related services, and Cleaning products. The analyses show that compared to traditional regulatory instruments GPP tends to be more soft and dynamic - but also slower and less comprehensive. A decision model for GPP is developed. Two cases illustrate the potential benefits of GPP: Procurement of a new server centre in the City of Copenhagen, and procurement of transportation for disabled and elderly people in the City of Stockholm. Conclusions and recommendations on how to strengthen the benefits of GPP are provided. The study has been initiated and supervised by The Working Group on Environment and Economics under the Nordic Council of Ministries.

Rapporten præsenterer et studie af brugen af frivillige aftaler og forekomsten af miljømærker i de nordiske lande, inklusiv brugen af instrumenterne i et policy mix med andre policy værktøjer. Grundlaget for rapporten er fem landestudier, der hver især kortlægger brugen af de nævnte policy værktøjer i de fem nordiske lande og præsenterer identificerede evalueringer af konkrete frivillige aftaler og miljømærkeordninger. Fra evalueringerne uddrages konklusioner om omkostningseffektivitet samt gode og dårlige eksempler på anvendelse af frivillige aftaler og miljømærkeordninger i kombination med andre styringsmidler. Det primære formål er at udvikle anbefalinger, der kan understøtte og give input til justeringer af strategier for den fremtidige anvendelse af frivillige aftaler og miljømærker i de nordiske landes miljøregulering. Rapporten er udført af Plan Miljø og finansieret af Nordisk Ministerråd.

A review study of the impacts of the economic crisis on the environment and environmental policy in Nordic countries indicates that the short run economic slowdown translates into a levelling or decline of various emissions in the Nordic countries. The extent of greenhouse gas emission reductions vary by countries' economic structures. Some other emissions, e.g. of sulphur dioxide, have not been affected by the crisis. In general, emissions curtailed by well established policies, appear to have been extensively decoupled from economic growth. In contrast, emissions for which policy is still evolving, such as for climate mitigation, seem more sensitive to variations in economic growth. Effective decoupling is essential to the sustained fulfilment of environmental objectives.  Long term effects of the economic crisis are threatening. In the absence of new policy initiatives, the reduced need and investment capability will slowdown the renewal of production capacities and structures. In due course, also environmental R&D efforts may decelerate and postpone eco-efficient innovations. Considering the strains on public budgets, creative policy solutions need to be found. Green, as other stimulus applied in response to the crisis, cannot be sustained for long. Though the effectiveness of some efforts may be doubtful, the idea of a green transformation in society and the economy is vital for sustained efforts and achievement of goals. The vigorously growing economies in Asia and Latin America offer significant export potential for environmental innovations. Such technology transfers are indispensable for the achievement of global climate policy objectives. Export success, however, frequently requires proven performance. Hence, Nordic innovation policies should promote joint demonstration projects to overcome small home market size. Despite their progress in the greening of the fiscal system, Nordic countries maintain considerable scope in (fossil) energy and natural resource use taxes, and environmentally harmful subsidies. New incentives such as feebates and tradable certificate systems also merit consideration. Moreover, emerging systems for tailored monitoring and feedback systems for companies and households regarding energy use, transport performance, and embodied emissions, can address untapped potential at moderate costs. The report has been commissioned by the Working Group on Environment and Economics under the Nordic Council of Ministers. The study was conducted by the Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT) in Helsinki.

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 1999 Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone, with focus on emissions of NOX, SOX, NH3, and VOC, is the latest protocol under UNECE's Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. This report offers a Nordic perspective on implementation of the protocol in terms of the measures that have been introduced in the Nordic countries, the effects of these measures as well as how the reductions agreed under the protocol may be attained.

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.

The report reviews the different initiatives aiming to measure aspects of “green” sectors, jobs and technologies. The report discusses whether the statistics collected under the present initiatives aimed at measuring these aspects increase insights into the fundamental questions motivating the initiatives. An alternative framework is suggested, as it appears fundamentally impossible to make consistent frameworks for a division of the economy into “green” and “non-green” activities. The analysis has been carried out during the period September 2011 – March 2012 by Vista Analysis AS, Gaia Consulting Oy and University of Aarhus. Gaia Consulting Oy is responsible for the chapters 5.2., 5.3, 6.2, 6.3 and 7.2 only. The project was commissioned by the Working Group on Environment and Economy under the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Reforming environmentally harmful subsidies: How to counteract distributional impacts The report discusses the theoretical principles for an efficient environmental and distribution policy and offers a comprehensive survey of experiences from policy reforms in different countries.  The reform survey forms a background to recommendations for implementation of sustainable policy reforms, taking care of environmental, economic and distributional concerns. It particularly brings in the Nordic experiences, both to enlighten the problems with environmentally harmful subsidies in these countries, and to discuss what can be learned from the experiences in a broader international context. The analysis has been carried out during the period October 2010 – May 2011. The study was carried out by Vista Analyse AS and commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment.

This project adds insight into the potential contribution to fiscal consolidation from environmental tax and subsidy reforms, i.e. strengthening public budgets while at the same time improving economic efficiency and the environment. The report contributes with own calculations for potential revenues from environmental taxes and discusses the financial crisis and environmental tax policy responses in Iceland, Estonia and Ireland as case studies.The analysis has been carried out during the period July 2012 – December 2012 by Vista Analysis AS, Norway, Reykjavik University, Iceland and PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Estonia. The project was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) considers initiating a project with the purpose to identify the driving forces behind the development of Nordic emissions to air. Two approaches are under consideration: a backward-looking and a forward-looking. The backward-looking approach aims to identify the reasons for the growth of emissions over the past decades. This analysis requires detailed statistical information on emissions from firms and households in (at least) two observation years covering the period of interest: preferably the most recent year available, and a historical year some 10-20 years before. The forward-looking approach would exploit a simulated data set. In addition to a year representing today, the remaining observation year(s) would be in the medium- or long-term future (20-50 years ahead). Simulation of data for the Nordic countries would be based on economic models. This pre-study assesses the possibilities to conduct backward-looking and forward-looking decomposition analyses for the Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland.

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.

Der er ganske stor forskel på de nordiske landes bilpark, både i sammensætningen af bilparken og dens brug. Samtidig er der meget forskellige afgiftsstrukturer for personbiler mellem de nordiske lande, hvilket påvirker såvel køb som brug af bilerne. Fælles for de nordiske lande er dog, at der især gennem de seneste 4 år er sket et markant fald i den gennemsnitlige CO2 udledning fra nye biler. Analysen indikere at: Registrerings- og årsafgifter kan bidrage til reduktion af salget af nye biler og af de nye bilers gennemsnitlige CO2-udslip. Effekten afhænger dog af en række andre forhold i de enkelte lande. Firmabilsordninger i Norden giver incitament til store biler og megen kørsel pga. subsidiering, og dette har langsigtede effekter da en stor del af de nye biler anskaffes som firmabiler men anvendes som privatbiler størstedelen af deres levetid. CO2 differentierede afgifter kan bidrage til køb af CO2 effektive biler. Afgiftsomlægningerne af års- og registreringsafgifterne i Norge, Danmark og Finland omkring 2007 har haft betydelig indflydelse på CO2-udslippet. Målrettede pakker af virkemidler som ud over afgifter også inddrager andre fordele for miljøvenlige biler som bedre parkeringsadgang, ret til at køre i miljøzoner, informationskampagner o.l. kan sikre stort gennemslag og er mere effektive end generelle afgiftsstigninger. Synlighed af målsætninger og virkemidler er afgørende for, at CO2 effektive biler får stor udbredelse, bl.a. fordi det sikrer større tillid hos forbrugerne til nye teknologier. Rapporten er blevet bestilt af Miljø- og Økonomigruppen  under Nordisk Ministerråd. Undersøgelsen blev udført af COWI.

Environmental impacts are increasing due to human activities. The overuse of the benefits nature provides us is the direct result of our failure to put a price on these benefits. One way of addressing this is to require environmental compensation.

The purpose of the study is to provide Nordic Council of Ministers and national decision-makers with an overview of key conditions for increased, flexible and cost-effective application of compensation.

The study shows that for a relatively small cost society can make a significant investment in the provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services by requiring compensation.

The study outlines three main recommendations on how to increase the use of environmental compensation:

1. Stimulate supply of, and demand for, compensation

2. Clarify and supplement guidelines and legal framework

3. Strengthen Nordic cooperation on compensation

There is an increased focus on ensuring optimal use of the resources of the planet. However experience shows that legislation can hinder the use of the resources from waste. This report examines the unintended consequences that legislation, enforcement and other formal institutions can have on utilization of biowaste as a resource.

The project consists of three main elements:

1) Desk research

2) Qualitative phone interviews with relevant actors in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

3) Solution dialogues with authorities.

The barriers to better utilisation of biowaste are diffuse, and the solutions complex. A mixture of changes in regulation, better cooperation and coordination between regulative bodies, and better guidance and information sharing between national- and municipal authorities and the business community would together reduce the barriers for utilisation of biowaste.

People are dependent on the ocean and coasts and their resources for their survival and well-being. Coastal ecosystems of the Nordic countries, such as kelp forests, blue mussel beds, eelgrass meadows and shallow bays and inlets, provide a number of supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services to both the local communities as well as the wider population who benefit from them. The study has focused on examining these coastal values through selected examples, and recommend possible applications and relevance for the management of the Nordic coastal areas and their resources. The project has also identified key gaps in the knowledge and suggests where further work should be emphasized.

Marine Ecosystem Services (MARECOS) is an interdisciplinary study that provides relevant information for national, Nordic and international ecosystem services assessments and valuation in the implementation of marine policy.

This report aims to provide suggestions on how ecosystem condition assessments, being based on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and the HELCOM indicator based assessments for the Baltic Sea, could be used for the assessment of ecosystem services.

By describing the potentials of linking data and knowledge describing the status of marine ecosystems and water quality to the values of the services and goods provided, the report offers useful information for policy and decision makers in the domain of the marine and aquatic policies around the Baltic and in the Nordic countries.

The Nordic countries have, during the last 20 years, introduced efficient measures to reduce nitrogen losses to the environment. Still, nitrogen losses from the agricultural sector are high. In this report we provide recommendations on strategies and policy instruments to achieve cost effective abatement of reactive nitrogen from agriculture in the Nordic countries.This report is based on a literature review. Additional input was also obtained from discussions at a workshop held in Gothenburg in January 2017. The workshop made it possible for experts from the four Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to come together and discuss and compare policies and mitigation measures regarding nitrogen and agriculture. During the workshop we identified a number of policy challenges, policy actions and also knowledge gaps where further research is needed.

Achieving a high quality of waste plastic materials and recycling processes is a key challenge in closing the resource loops for plastics. This report reviews the status and trends for plastic waste flows and treatment in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Furthermore, it gives an overview of existing policy instruments and the main challenges for designing policy instruments for improved recycling of plastic waste in these Nordic countries. The report identifies potential market failures associated with closing the resource loops for plastics. It reviews the economics research literature on policy instrument design for achieving optimal recycling rates and makes policy recommendations from the Nordic perspective. Finally, it presents results from a survey on market conditions to managers in the recycling and plastic manufacturing industry in Sweden.

There is a large and growing literature focusing on economic issues related to climate change and climate policies. This report presents a discussion of some of the recent studies. The focus is on various numerical analyses and not on the purely theoretical studies. The following questions are discussed in the report: What will the development of greenhouse gas emissions be and what climate changes will follow if no new policies are introduced? What can economic analyses tell us about climate policy goals? What are the costs of reducing emissions? What types of policies should be used to reduce emissions? Knowledge about these issues is important for governments when evaluating their own climate policies as well as climate policies of other countries. It is also important for evaluating potential future climate agreements. This report has been commissioned by the Working Group on Environment and Economics under the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The European Emissions trading Scheme (EU ETS) was launched in 2005. The scheme started off with a limited scope, but has gradually expanded, in terms of geographical, sectoral and gas coverage. This report analyses the possibilities for further sectoral expansion in the Nordic countries. The analysis is done in terms of barriers and solutions for inclusion of four major sectors currently outside the scope of the scheme: transport, heating, agriculture and fisheries, and waste. Focus is on the road transport sector, which is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Nordic countries. The main barriers identified for inclusion of road transport are related to the overlap with existing policy instruments, high administrative costs of downstream inclusion, and potential loss of fiscal revenue. Experiences from other trading schemes show that the barriers can be overcome.

Potential policy instruments that can accelerate a transition toward a cir-cular economy in the Nordic construction sector, including demolition of buildings, are discussed and assessed. Sixteen interviews were carried out with actors representing stakeholders from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Implementation of the 32 policy instruments that the 16 interviewees sug-gest is expected to speed up the transition toward a circular economy. But the implementation of the policy instruments can be complicated and the implementation process needs to address a number of barriers that may hinder a reduction in the use of resources, greenhouse gas emissions and a full growth in gross profit.

There is an economic potential for increased energy efficiency in Nordic buildings. How much is however difficult to assess, partly because of insufficient energy statistics for buildings. Several barriers hinder the use of more efficient solutions when building and using buildings, e.g. lack of information, energy issues having low priority, and different incentives for builders, owners and users. Climate concerns and the need to secure energy supply are important drivers for energy efficiency policies. Promoting energy efficiency in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions might however induce large rebound effects causing total emissions to be reduced very little or not at all. This might be the case if reduced energy use in buildings is replaced with more emission intensive activities, like travel. To avoid this it is important to include all greenhouse gasses in tax or quota systems, and to restrain financial support to energy efficient investment in order not to make them too cheap.

The CO₂ emissions from passenger cars is declining. Some changes are due to ever improved technology provided by car manufacturers and others induced by political regulation. The report investigates the recent changes in CO₂ intensity in the car fleets in the Nordic countries. The trends in the car sales are presented and the impacts on overall CO₂ intensity are outlined. All Nordic countries have in the past ten years changed the national regulation of passenger cars through different economic incentives and various schemes making low emissions vehicles more favourable. The report describes these changes and complement with an overview of international empirical findings concerning the main tax instruments (purchase-, annual-, fuel tax and road user charges). The potential impact of these taxes are reviewed and recommendations for future uses of the various instruments are provided.

Finding and using indicators that are most suited for tracking progress, raising awareness and supporting analysis is a challenge. Indicators need to be used in appropriate contexts and should ideally be fit-for-purpose. For example, indicators which are best used for awareness-raising cannot be used for monitoring policy goals. This report presents a short review of different indicators typically encountered by environmental policy makers. General advice is provided regarding their uses. In the second part of the report, an overview of the environmental-economic accounting work of the Nordic statistical institutes is presented. Lessons learned from the development of these accounts as well as ideas for future work are described. These types of environmental accounts provide a framework for developing information about the connections between the economy and the environment. The study was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and conducted by the national statistical agencies in the Nordic countries, led by Statistics Norway and Statistics Sweden.

The Nordic Council of Ministers publishes regular overview reports on the use of economic instruments in Nordic environmental policy. In this report, Part I presents an overview of the use of economic instruments with the main focus on changes during the years 2006 - 2009. Part II gives a brief overview of mixes of policy instruments (also other than economic instruments) and presents two case studies. There are generally few changes in the use of economic instruments since 2006, except for the introduction of the emissions trading system, EU ETS, and changes in vehicle registration tax systems to become more based on specific fuel use or CO2 emissions. In general, the tax systems could be made more effective and efficient by treating different sectors and fuels more equally.

After the recent financial and economic crisis, greening the economy has become a major focus for international and national discussions:  How to combine forceful and effective action to meet climate change and other environmental challenges with stronger and more sustainable economic development, in both developed and developing countries. This synthesis report on the Nordic countries' environmental policy experiences, focuses on the use of economic instruments and how this policy has contributed to the integration of environmental concerns into economic growth and development policies. The report demonstrates that the Nordic countries have been successful in achieving substantial reductions in several major pollutants and clear improvements in local and regional environmental quality, while maintaining an internationally respectable rate of economic growth. This decoupling of economic development from growth in emissions has been achieved through a range of policy instruments, with a strong and increasing element of economic, market-based instruments. The challenge, and the opportunity, for the Nordic countries is to strengthen and deepen such policies, with even more effective design of and combination of policy instruments, to deal with new and remaining threats to the local, national and international environment. The study was carried out by Vista Analyse AS and commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment.

Human wellbeing is dependent upon and benefit from ecosystem services which are delivered by well-functioning ecosystems. Ecosystem services can be mapped and assessed consistently within an ecosystem service framework. This project aims to explore the use and usefulness of the ecosystem service framework in freshwater management, particularly water management according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD). There are several examples of how ecosystem services have been used in WFD related studies in all the Nordic countries. Most of them involve listing, describing and categorizing freshwater ecosystem services, while there are few comprehensive Cost Benefit Analyses and analyses of disproportionate costs that apply this framework. More knowledge about ecosystem services and the value of ecosystem services for freshwater systems is needed.

Shipping today operates under a complex set of international and domestic regulations. However, the environmental regulations have lagged behind those of other industries. This situation is now changing quite dramatically. The increased focus on environmental issues, combined with the growing realisation of the actual pollution burden imposed by shipping, has led to an upsurge in both international and national regulations. Some are ready and will enter into force in the near future, while others are still being developed. On behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers DNV has carried out a study on possible control mechanisms for Nordic ship emission. The aim is to assess the baseline shipping emissions and reduction potential and the possible controlling mechanisms (both incentives and regulations) available for reducing the emissions to air from shipping within the Nordic region.

The report reviews different international approaches for natural capital accounting. The five approaches reviewed are attempts to help create an improved evidence base on the links between biodiversity and ecosystems on the one hand and economic and human wellbeing on the other in view of better informing decision-making in a variety of contexts. The strengths and weaknesses of the approaches are evaluated in the light of the policy goals, institutions and conditions in the Nordic countries. The analysis has been carried out during the period September 2012 – January 2013 by Gaia Consulting Oy and the Institute of European Environmental Policy. The project was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The objective of this report is to contribute to the development towards a Circular Economy and is based upon a number of TemaNord reports on recycling of various materials commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers. This report contains synthesized knowledge on metals, biomass, building materials and plastics, from projects completed for the Environment and Economy Group (MEG) and the Nordic Waste Group (NAG). The findings in the TemaNord reports are presented to demonstrate the potentials, barriers and policy instruments in relation to increased recycling and improvement of the markets for recycled resources. The target group of the report is decision makers and other stakeholders searching for circular economy inspiration and knowledge.

The emergence of the ecosystem services concept suggests that economic valuation studies are already fulfilling a role in raising awareness by demonstrating the loss of nature’s goods and services using monetary indicators. In order to have future relevance in capturing value and giving support to policy-makers, valuation methods must specifically address resource accounting, priority setting, and instrument design. This report provides an overview of economic valuation methods of ecosystem services from watersheds in the Nordic countries. The study was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and conducted by The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, The Norwegian Institute of Water Research and Sweco Norge during the period May – November 2011. The study indicates that economic valuation methods can be applied to watershed management in multiple ways. However, policy makers should be wary of “one size fits all” valuation estimates that appear ready to use across different watershed types and stakeholder interests.

Samhället drar nytta av naturens tillhandahållande av olika naturresurser, miljökvalitet och ekosystemtjänster. Därför är det av stor vikt att naturens och miljöns ekonomiska värde kommer in som poster i samhällsekonomiska analyser. Information om sådana ekonomiska värden finns att tillgå i miljövärderingsstudier. För att bidra till att sådan information blir mer tillgänglig och mer använd har en databas med nordiska miljövärderingsstudier upprättats. Databasen kallas Nordic Environmental Valuation Database (NEVD) och innehåller information om totalt 192 nordiska miljövärderingsstudier, varav 25 danska, 41 finska, 2 isländska, 37 norska och 60 svenska. De återstående 27 är studier som gäller flera länder, däribland minst ett nordiskt land. Databasen är ett resultat av ett projekt som genomfördes under april-december 2006 av Enveco Miljöekonomi AB, MTT Agrifood Research Finland och SWECO Grøner AS.

This study explores how nudging instruments are used to encourage environmentally friendly behavior within energy consumption, waste management and resource efficiency. The study results provide very interesting examples of nudging resulting in reduced energy consumption in households due to providing real-time information, peer comparison and the use of green defaults, as well as increased and improved quality of waste sorting and reduction of food waste through changes in the physical environment. The study also presents the results of a field experiment examining how nudges can encourage consumers in a super market to choose to donate the deposit refunded from reverse-vending machines for beverage containers to an environment friendly cause. Overall, the findings of this study provide a strong case for using nudging instruments to promote more environmentally friendly behavior.

Carbon leakage is a situation in which a policy-induced reduction in CO2 emissions domestically is followed by increased emissions abroad. We investigate from a Nordic perspective what industries are at risk of carbon leakage.

We find that aluminum and copper, basic iron and steel and paper, all having energy intensities over 40 per cent, have the highest risk of carbon leakage.

The policy of giving free emissions allowances to industries at risk of carbon leakage is relatively equally spread out, leaving industries at high risk “undercompensated” and industries at low risk “overcompensated”. We find that the leakage rates for the energy intensive industry from unilateral ambitious EU targets could be as high as 70%, and even as high as 85% if the Nordic countries unilaterally adopt more ambitious targets. The key to limit the risk of carbon leakage is collective global action.

This report discusses how policymakers should deal with economic distortions on the cost-side of cost-benefit analysis in the area of environmental policies, and assesses the existing Nordic guideline recommendations. The two types of economic distortions are distortions to product markets, which are almost by definition tied to environmental policy interventions, and distortions to labour supply decisions. Drawing on best practices from the literature, we formulate a number of key principles useful for assessing the impact on labour supply decisions and welfare on product markets from policy interventions. Four analytical examples are included to illustrate the importance of these principles for the correct quantification of distortionary impacts, especially the importance of taking into account pre-existing policy induced distortions.

Prissætning af CO2 anses generelt for at være et særdeles effektivt værktøj med henblik på at reducere CO2-udslippet. At prissætte CO2 skaber incitament for brugere og producenter af fossile brændsler til at reducere forbruget og udvikle produkter og processer med et lavt CO2-udslip. Høje klimapolitiske ambitioner kan dog medføre CO2-lækage, hvilket betyder at en unilateral eller regional klimapolitik tilskynder virksomheder til at flytte deres investeringer og produktionsanlæg, og dermed CO2-udslippet, til tredjelande. Rapporten er udarbejdet af Copenhagen Economics på opdrag af Nordisk Ministerråd med henblik på at give et overblik over de industrier som risikerer CO2-lækage i de nordiske lande, og at vurdere det forventede omfang af CO2-lækagen som følge af den unilaterale klimapolitik i de nordiske lande. I rapporten gives også en vurdering af de eksisterende politiske muligheder som kan reducere risikoen for CO2-lækage, såsom fritagelse for energiskat og fritagelse for kvoteforpligtelser i forbindelse med grønne certifikater. I rapporten identificeres de primære årsager til CO2-lækage, herunder energiintensitet, produktdifferentiering, transportudgifter og kapitalintensitet. Analysen viser at virksomheder som eksempelvis producerer papir og cellulosemasse, jern og stål, aluminium, cement, lægemidler, kemikalier og gødning, har den største risiko for CO2-lækage inden for den nordiske produktionssektor.

Emissions and resources are typically allocated to national territories. There has been increased interest in allocating environmental flows to the final consumption of goods and services. The resulting "environment footprints" are particularly relevant for global environmental problems in a globalised world. Developed countries generally have larger environmental footprints than their national territorial flows, and the gap has tended to increase over the last two decades. Consequently, some have argued that environmental policies should address the environmental footprint. Despite the potential policy relevance, there has been relatively little research on policy applications. While environmental footprints have many advantages, policy applications are limited by estimation and interpretation uncertainty, and by the lack of a clear policy motivation.

There is increasing public, media and policy interest in the concepts of carbon footprints and the emissions associated with international trade. Many wonder if our growing consumption of imported products offsets our gains in climate policy. A variety of publications suggest that emission reductions in rich countries are offset by increased imports, i.e. our national carbon footprint is growing while our territorial emissions are getting smaller. Some refute this claim stating that the methods and data are unreliable, while others acknowledge the issue but argue it is not important for climate policy. This report aims to dispel some myths about carbon footprints and trade-adjusted emission inventories. A review of studies finds large variations between studies of the Nordic countries, but closer inspection shows that many of the variations are due to inconsistent definitions and non-comparable methods. Calculations using a consistent global model provide updated estimates for the Nordic countries in 1997, 2001, and 2004. A general observation for the Nordic countries is that the overall carbon footprint is larger than territorial based emissions, and that the difference is increasing. Further we also observe an increase in the total carbon footprint from 2001 to 2004. This stresses the need for policy makers to track the cause-effect chains between consumption and production to understand and mitigate potential carbon leakage. The study was carried out by researchers from CICERO and MiSA and was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The objective of this project is to discuss the role of forests in Nordic countries in climate change mitigation and discuss the possible roles of forests as a part of a cost-effective climate policy. The report aims to provide a comprehensive and easily digestible way to better understand the issue. The report includes a discussion on the role of forests for enhancing carbon stocks and carbon sinks in the Nordic countries. The extent of above- and below-ground biomass and their role as forests carbon sinks in Nordic forests is analysed. The use of wood in products, buildings and as bioenergy is examined. Finally the report presents emissions trading schemes from around the globe that allow offsets and credits from forest projects on them and provides an analysis on the feasibility of such a scheme for the Nordic region. The report has been commissioned by the Working Group on Environment and Economics under the Nordic Council of Ministers. The study was carried out by Indufor.

Critical raw materials (CRM) are used in various applications in different sectors, and their consumption will likely further increase in future. The threats caused by their limited availability and high prices have led to discussion on more efficient use of the resources available. The enhanced recycling of critical raw materials could be a significant opportunity for the Nordic countries.This report focuses on the recycling potential of wastes containing CRMs, analyses of the bottlenecks of recycling, and identifies potential policy instruments to eliminate the barriers or reduce their impact. In order to enhance sustainable recycling, the Nordic countries should improve knowledge of CRM availability, develop new recycling strategies, support demonstration and selected R&D actions, and strengthen Nordic influence on the development of European legislation and standards.

This report reviews how the Nordic countries can develop a strategy for renewable energy that delivers efficiently on the two underlying policy objectives of climate change and energy security challenges. The overarching elements in the evaluation of existing polices and the policy recommendations that follows from the analysis falls into three main parts:

• Expanding renewable energy is not an end in itself, but a tool to deliver on the two real policy targets: climate change and energy security.

• Too much policy focus at the Nordic and EU level is dedicated to boost renewable energy share of energy production in the near term, and insufficient resources are allocated to develop future low carbon technologies, which are required when CO2 abatement targets become more ambitious.

• The long term nature of the challenges and huge investments in low carbon technologies required to deliver on long term targets puts a very high premium on policies that reduces policy risks as perceived by investors.

The report was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and written by Copenhagen Economics.

The various sharing initiatives seen in the Nordic countries over the last years within transportation, housing/accommodation, sharing/renting of smaller capital goods and personal services could yield considerable benefits for consumers due to better quality and/or lower prices of the services. They also have a potential for emissions reductions of CO2 and local pollutants. However, savings from lower prices could lead to increased emissions from increased demand of the services (particularly transport) and increased spending on other goods and services. Depending on how consumers spend their savings, these changes could partly, wholly or more than offset the initial emission reductions. The impacts on overall CO2 emissions depend on whether the emissions are taxed, part of the emissions trading system EU ETS or not regulated at all.

This report shows that a decoupling between economic growth, expressed as gross value added, and CO2 emissions has been achieved in the period from 1990-2001 in many energy-intensive and less energy-intensive sectors across the Nordic countries. The report investigates the impact of prices and taxes on the trends in CO2 emissions on the basis of a novel method that relies on sector-specific energy prices. Whereas previous research has been unable to account for the implications of complex tax exemptions and price discounts, the present report bridges the gap and provides innovative estimates for own-price and cross-price elasticities of the individual fuels. Whereas elasticities for electricity and gas are found to be moderate, the own-price elasticity for oil, coal and waste is relatively high (-0.4 to -0.6), indicating that consumption of these fuels is relatively price elastic. This finding suggests that price increases, whether induced by taxes or market fluctuations, can be effective in curbing CO2 emissions when they accurately reflect the CO2 burden. It also suggests that CO2-specific taxes on fuels are more effective than end-user electricity taxes which do not reflect actual emissions.

I rapporten beskrives de nordiske landes aktiviteter indenfor miljøeffektiv teknologi eller miljøteknologi i perioden 2004-11. Rapporten dokumenterer, at samtlige nordiske lande har store ambitioner på området, men der er samtidig et stort behov for større viden i hvert af de nordiske lande om virksomheder, eksport, patenter, enkelte projekter, overblik etc. Rapporten dokumenterer også, at der er et endog meget stort behov for at fremme efterspørgselssiden, eftersom ingen af landene gør nogen målrettet indsats på dette felt. Hvert af de nordiske lande beskrives i et afsnit med vægten på den sidste del af perioden, og der gives anbefalinger til forbedringer. Der sker en vis sammenligning landene imellem, og der gives anbefalinger til, hvordan hvert enkelt land kan bidrage til en forbedret indsats, som måske også kan hjælpe de andre lande. Denne gennemgang af landene er rapportens hovedindsats. Hertil er der et indledningsafsnit, som sætter undersøgelsen i perspektiv og en sammenfatning, som forsøger at give anbefalinger til en forbedret indsats. Det anbefales generelt, at der etableres bedre datagrundlag om virksomheder og eksport etc. Det anbefales også, at der tilvejebringes mere information og bruges flere mandskabsressourcer. Og endelig anbefales det, at der gøres langt mere ved at styrke efterspørgselssiden i arbejdet med miljøeffektiv teknologi.

This new report commissioned by the Environment and Finance Group of the Nordic Council of Ministers continues the tradition of reviewing the use of economic instruments in environmental policy in the Nordic countries by providing a comprehensive overview. At the same time, this report extends the country coverage and content of the report. The application of economic instruments is not only discussed for the five Nordic countries, but also for the three Baltic countries. In addition, a discussion on the opportunities and shortcomings associated with the use of economic instruments in the field of environmental policy has been undertaken. The report is a follow-up of the previous five reviews – the last was published in 2002 (TemaNord 2002:581) – and discusses the latest development of the application of economic instruments covering the time period 2001-2005.

Den Nordiske avfallsgruppen under Nordisk ministerråd gjennomførte i 2012 en kost-nytteanalyse av et forslag til fellesnordisk pantesystem for drikkevareemballasje. I rapporten som nå foreligger dokumenteres problemstillingen, de ulike løsningsmodellene og resultatene fra analysearbeidet. Resultatene viser at et fellesnordisk pantesystem ikke er samfunnsøkonomisk lønnsomt. Derimot er det lønnsomt å rette fokus mot de store mengdene drikkevareenheter som privatimporteres til Norden fra Tyskland og Estland uten at det betales pant. Det pågår for tiden bilaterale forhandlinger mellom berørte land for å finne løsninger på dette. Å arbeide for et fellesnordisk pantesystem i kombinasjon med bilaterale avtaler vil også være samfunnsøkonomisk lønnsomt, men ikke like lønnsomt som å konsentrere seg om de bilaterale løsningene.

In the future, demand for agricultural products will increase. The agricultural sector must meet the increase in demand without compromising the natural resources of which it depends on and damage fragile ecosystems. Sustainable agricultural practices and green growth is necessary for this to happen and agricultural policy must facilitate such development. How agriculture contributes to water pollution has been in focus in the Nordic countries for many years. In many places, nutrient emissions have been successfully reduces, but targets are still not met. The implementation of the Water Framework Directive makes policies that facilitate reduction of nutrient runoff even more relevant than before. This report looks at experiences from the Nordic countries and makes suggestions for future policies for sustainable agriculture and green growth.The report has been commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The study was carried out by the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute (NILF).

The objective of this policy brief is to present a high-level overview of the use of economic instruments in environmental policies in the Nordic countries from the 1990's up to 2017. This overview is based on previously published reports on the use of economic instruments in Nordic environmental policy. Focus is on the development in use of economic instruments in each of the five Nordic countries, and the region as a whole. More specifically, the policy brief presents:

• An overview of number of economic instruments by country and by sector

• The revenue from the use of economic instruments by country and by sector

• Discussion of the use of economic instruments in relation to the transition to a green economy.

Den Nordiska konferensen om ekonomiska modeller och deras policyrelevans, i klimathänseende, hölls 25 maj 2016. Talare var experter och forskare från OECD, svenska universitet och nordiska institutioner samt politiker från olika partier i Sverige och Finland. Målet var att diskutera hur man bättre integrerar klimatfrågorna i ekonomisk politik, när kortsiktiga makroekonomiska modeller ämnade för finansiell analys, sällan kan ta hänsyn till klimataspekter på grund av tekniska svårigheter. Diskussionen fokuserade på möjligheter och begränsningar i olika sorters ekonomiska modeller samt på några klimatpolicy-frågor såsom handelssystem med utsläppsrätter och koldioxidskatter. Den övergripande slutsatsen var att det troligtvis är bättre att använda sig av olika sorters modeller för att analysera olika frågor och inte försöka infoga klimataspekter i kortsiktiga makroekonomiska modeller.