"If we wait, the emissions will have time to run away so that we consume our carbon budget before we have time to change society," says Mikael Malmaeus, researcher at IVL Swedish Environmental Institute and author of the report.  

The researchers have compared a number of the investments that we in Sweden must make according to, among other things, the Climate Act to achieve zero emissions in 2045 with how much carbon dioxide emissions large infrastructure investments cause on average.

"I think that the report provides an interesting summary of the climate effect of investments, which is valuable when considering the design of climate policy," says Katarina Elofsson, environmental economist at SLU.

But the report takes little account of societal costs and instruments. If everything is the same as today, it is best to invest in green conversion - but society and technology develop and large investments in undeveloped technologies can lead to higher costs and inefficient technology that needs to be replaced prematurely, according to Robert Hart, professor of environmental economics at SLU .

In addition, the size of Sweden's carbon dioxide budget can be discussed

Investments cost carbon dioxide

If the recovery after covid-19 is done in a two-stage rocket, first the economy and then sustainability, the necessary investments will not be made before the Swedish emissions budget runs out, according to the report.

The reason is that the investments needed for society to become fossil-free, themselves "cost" in carbon dioxide emissions and thus will take up a large part of Sweden's remaining carbon dioxide budget. 

"Investments cost climate emissions, it is materials that will emerge, concrete and steel that will emerge and we must do all this with today's technology," says Mikael Malmaeus.

"We must increase the pace"

Despite sharply reduced economic activity and reduced travel in the wake of the corona, global greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to decrease by only 4–7 per cent this year. This is significantly lower than the rate of reduction of 8–15 per cent per year required for us to meet the Paris Agreement's climate target of a maximum temperature rise of 1.5–2 degrees. 

"We need to replace our fossil car fleet, four million cars roll on the roads and they need to be replaced with electric cars," says Mikael Malmaeus.

According to the report, more sustainable investments that Sweden could make are to expand the railway system, invest heavily in renewable energy and energy renovate the million program areas so that they become more energy efficient. 

—Small investments are already being made in all sectors, but we need to increase the pace. There is a lot of talk about finding the technology of the future that will solve our problems, but we need to solve the problems now, says Mikael Malmaeus.

Link to the report can be found here: