Many Nordic non-state actors are taking voluntary action to contribute to global efforts to combat climate change, within and beyond their boundaries and value chains. Buying carbon credits from the voluntary carbon markets is one way to support climate change mitigation beyond the value chain. This report summarises key insights from a a series of Nordic capacity building events on best practices for the voluntary carbon market, in line with the results and recommendations of the Nordic Dialogue on Voluntary Compensation. It provides an overview of the latest international and national developments in the field and key issues discussed in the events.

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.

This report assesses the “green stimulus” relevance of the covid-19 stimulus measures in the Nordic region. By green stimulus we mean measures that can achieve economic stimulus while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing environmental and natural resource quality.All Nordic countries have implemented comprehensive covid-19 stimulus packages, amounting to between 2000 euro per capita in Finland to 4400 euro per capita in Denmark. We identified that at least 6-21 percent of the measures suit the definition as green stimulus in terms of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. A lower share, at least 2-13 percent, contribute to increase greenhouse gas emissions. The picture is almost the same for the environment. The remaining measures are either assessed as not having any significant impact on emissions or the environment.

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.

Financial institutions have facilitated the expansion of business activities detrimental to biological diversity. However, the demand for investing in activities with positive impact on nature is rapidly rising, and the financial sector is increasingly urged to align their portfolios with biodiversity positive outcomes. This report provides a status of existing analytical tools and public and private strategies that ensure that public and private investments strengthen, not weaken, biodiversity. The report also looks closer at the approaches to biodiversity safeguards in the Nordic financial institutions Nefco (Nordic Environment Finance Corporation), NDF (Nordic Development Fund) and NIB (Nordic Investment Bank), and examines their methods to support biodiversity and nature through their financial activities.

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.

Green growth forms the core of sustainable development strategies. The central assumption is that economic growth can continue while reducing resource use, environmental pressures, and impacts. Resource use and environmental pressures can be absolutely decoupled from growth, and we can halt climate change and biodiversity loss without adversely affecting economic growth. The report; Is Economic Growth Compatible with a Sustainable Nordic Future? written by Norion Consult, assesses, evaluates, and questions arguments and evidence for and against decoupling as a realistic long-term solution. To continue the dialogue concerning this topic, a conference commissioned by the Nordic Working Group for Environment and Economy, was held on March 23rd, 2023, by Norion Consult. This report describes challenges, summarizes the presentations and discussions, and recommends the next steps.

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

This report generates an overview of the use of the nature risk concept, describes the scope, and assesses the applicability in the Nordic countries, and in international organisations. The concept of nature-related risks is found to be mainly in use in the financial sector. The application of the term has increased rapidly in recent years, with numerous efforts to implement the concept. Moreover, similar concepts precede, within the same scope; the earliest being biodiversity risk. It is recommended that each of the Nordic countries take active steps to implement the concept of nature risk in relevant policies, regulations and sectors. It is also recommended that the Nordic countries follow the international development on nature risk and related policy areas, such as the EU taxonomy and the TNFD framework, and ensure that national policy is aligned with the international agenda.

Consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and other air pollutants must decrease substantially across the Nordics. Such priorities are key to creating healthy cities and reaching environmental targets. This report gathers around 100 possible policy options to this end. We also asked a panel of Nordic experts to rank and analyze 21 policy options, identifying particularly promising policies. Policymakers should pay attention to that there is no “silver bullet” but a broad spectrum of promising policies, which could be combined into wider policy packages. Furthermore, improved statistics for consumption-based emissions and enhanced Nordic cooperation could aid in successfully reducing these emissions.

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.

The report analyses the potential of developing new economic instruments or modifying existing ones to promote the transition towards a circular economy, with examples from the textile- and construction sector. The results are similar for the two sectors. Economic instruments that could promote circularity include environmental taxes, such as natural resource taxes, import taxes, waste taxes, as well as Extended Producer Responsibility, VAT, and subsidies. A more in-depth analysis of the implementation of environmental taxes in the respective sectors show that taxes can be used to affect the market and consumer behaviour. However, the results indicate that the tax level needs to be relatively high to boost a shift towards circular economy. The results also show the difficulty in anticipating environmental and socio-economic impacts of a tax.

This is the nineth quadrennial report on the use of economic instruments in Nordic environmental policy published by the Nordic Working Group for Environment and Economics. The report contains two parts. Part 1 summarizes the most significant developments in the use of economic instruments in the environmental policies in the Nordic countries. It provides an overview of new instruments or major changes to existing instruments from 2018 to 2021 in the Nordic countries. The biggest changes are seen in the transport sector and in the field of energy and air pollution. Part 2 provides an overview of policies and instruments the Nordic countries have used to promote clean technologies. Most common is the use of a mix of environmental taxes and subsidies. Each country has chosen different technological paths depending on national and sector characteristics, as well as national preferences.

This report presents the findings from a comparative study of climate change adaptation policy in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Based on a comparative analysis of the policy landscape, including legislative frameworks, policy instruments, and financing mechanisms, the report identifies best practices and main challenges as well as key factors influencing the progress of national adaptation. Despite considerable progress in several of the Nordic countries, the report identifies multiple challenges, including lack of systems for monitoring, reporting and evaluation, lack of sufficient funding and economic incentives and lack of appropriate tools and knowledge for aligning adaptation with other societal goals, such as mitigation and sustainable development. The report ends by suggesting ways to enhance adaptation in the Nordic countries.

This policy brief presents the findings from the report "Comparison and analysis of national adaptation policies in the Nordic region", along with a set of policy recommendations directed at public authorities in the Nordic countries. After summarizing key progress factors and best practices and main challenges, the policy brief presents five main recommendations: 1) reframe adaptation as transformation; 2) establish mechanisms for systematic knowledge generation and develop appropriate indicators; 3) break down silo-structure between sectors and develop a clearly articulated policy cycle; 4) enhance adaptation financing and economic incentive mechanisms and translate knowledge on risks and vulnerabilities to local adaptation measures; 5) enhance the political mandate for adaptation and strengthen international commitments, including through Nordic collaboration.

To support the green transition, the use of green taxation might increase in the coming years. Public support of such policy interventions will among other things depend on the distributional impacts of the regulation. Increased green taxation can result in unwanted distributional impacts in the economy at large because environmental taxation tends to make up a larger share of the disposable income of low-income families. This study investigates current guides and practices in the Nordic countries on how the distributional effects from environmental taxation are analyzed and incorporated into the policy design. This is combined with research findings on the distributional effects of environmental taxation and possible mitigating actions. The study indicates that the Nordic countries could benefit from better integration of mitigating strategies between agencies.

The Nordic region's climate change goals are challenged by significant energy price hikes from 2021 to 2023. Nordic governments implemented various price compensation measures, but their impact on social-, climate-, and environmental goals remains uncertain. The impact evaluation presented in this report highlights that the Nordic measures were characterised by diverse designs, rapid yet problematic implementation, and limited redistribution to low-income households. Several measures discouraged effective resource allocation and emission reduction. To reduce the risk of conflict between compensation measures and climate change policy it is important that measures are understood as temporary. Measures that utilise flat rate or regressive patterns for transfer of funds, and that decouple funds from current consumption, should have been more effective that most of the measures utilised.

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.

This report represents an awareness of the need to address the interlinkages between the various dimensions of ecosystem restoration. The aim is to contribute towards identifying and presenting relevant multifunctional case stories and their tools, methods, and guidelines. Overall, the projects were successful at implementing synergetic adaptation and increased resilience. Climate mitigation, stakeholder involvement, and socio-economic benefits are represented in the case studies, but compared to biodiversity, they represent areas of improvement. With this catalogue it is our hope that the cases and guidelines may inspire and stimulate practical projects and support policy making towards many new restoration projects in the Nordic region.

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.

Nature provides us with a multitude of goods like food and fiber, drinking water, protection against floods and storms, carbon storage and recreational services like swimming and bird watching. Our welfare and well-being depend on these goods and services – often called ecosystem services, defined as “the benefit people directly and indirectly obtain from nature”. We often distinguish between four categories of ecosystem services; supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. This report aims to sum up and show some examples of the results of the ecosystem services projects carried out for NCM. It illustrates which ecosystem services we receive from Nordic nature and the importance of these. It also shows examples of how the ecosystem services approach has been and can be used in management of nature in the Nordic countries, and to point out some knowledge gaps.

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.

In this report, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has mapped the current work on and use of ecosystem accounting in the Nordic countries. Specifically, the report provides an overview of the recent work on ecosystem accounting in each of the five Nordic countries including the Faroe Islands, illustrating advantages and disadvantages within the different countries regarding the use of existing ecosystem accounts, thus to which extent these accounts coincide with new international standards on ecosystem accounting. The report also provides an overview of the ongoing work on ecosystem accounting at an international level, including the development of international standards for ecosystem accounting. Finally, recommendations are presented for the Nordic countries on how to advance the development of ecosystem accounting.

This summary provides a short overview of the recent work on ecosystem accounting in each of the five Nordic countries including the Faroe Islands, illustrating advantages and disadvantages within the different countries regarding the use of existing ecosystem accounts, thus to which extent these accounts coincide with new international standards on ecosystem accounting. Recommendations are presented for the Nordic countries on how to advance the development of ecosystem accounting.

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.

All Nordic countries have set ambitious targets to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through various national goals and legislation. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has a key role in strategies to achieve net-zero emissions through mitigating emissions from fossil fuels and removing CO2 permanently from the atmosphere. This project aimed to analyse regulatory aspects that are relevant for deployment of CCS-based mitigation options in a Nordic context. The report identifies similarities and differences between the Nordic countries concerning CCS regulation, barriers to CCS deployment due to regulatory frameworks, and currently ongoing regulatory development aimed at promoting responsible CCS deployment. Recommendations are provided concerning areas where further development, coordination, and capacity building might be prioritised by the Nordic countries.

Several Nordic countries and the EU have adopted net-zero greenhouse gas emission targets. Achieving net-zero will necessitate CO2 removal from the atmosphere to offset residual emissions that are challenging to mitigate. Bioenergy with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS) is a technology that has the potential to generate large-scale CO2 removal and contribute to the attainment of net-zero targets. The report describes the status of BECCS in the Nordic countries and globally. Significant initiatives in the Nordic countries are mapped. Challenges on the market that inhibit BECCS development are analyzed and areas of cooperation and joint initiatives on the Nordic level that could promote the development and deployment of BECCS are proposed. The project has been carried out by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute in collaboration with CICERO (Norway) and VTT (Finland).