The most energy efficient way of transporting goods is on a fully loaded modern vessel and 69 per cent of the total freight weight from abroad to Sweden goes via shipping, as well as 31 per cent of our exports.

By 2030, Sweden should have reduced emissions from all transport by 70 percent compared to 2010, according to the Riksdag's decided environmental target in line with the UN Agenda 2030. Therefore, it has been made a transport policy goal to move freight transport from roads and air to the more climate-smart railway and lake alternatives.

Domestic shipping accounts for a very small part of the climate-impacting emissions in Swedish waters, the majority of which is responsible for international traffic. However, emissions of, for example, sulfur dioxide in the Baltic Sea have fallen sharply since 2015, when more stringent rules on sulfur in ship fuel came into force.

Destination Gotland is one of the largest players in domestic shipping and in 2018 155,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were released. By 2030, the level will be down to around 55,000 tonnes.

As Destination Gotland, driving two ferries on LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) cuts carbon emissions levels from the vessels by about 20 percent. If you mix climate neutral biogas (LBG = Liquefied Bio Gas) in the fuel, these levels are further reduced.
This assumes that there is no leakage of the greenhouse gas methane, which both LNG and LBG consist of for the most part.

- But since there is leakage in methane management, it will be a roughly zero-sum game when it comes to climate impact to switch to LNG. But it obviously reduces sulfur emissions to almost zero. It also reduces particle levels and emissions of nitrogen oxides. And LBG is even better because it is a completely fossil-free fuel. If it is also locally produced as on Gotland, it is only positive, says Per Andersson, administrator at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Javascript is turned off

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Learn more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser. We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Learn more about browser support

Sources: Swedish Maritime Administration, Swedish Maritime Administration, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Destination Gotland