New figures from the Swedish Transport Administration show a record-breaking reduction in road traffic emissions of, among other things, carbon dioxide during the pandemic.
90 percent of the decrease is explained by the temporarily reduced traffic, but the increasing sales of electric cars also play a role.
In an interview in Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish Transport Administration's environmental director, Sven Hunhammar, says that every third new car sold in Sweden last year was rechargeable, is a contributing factor to the reduced emissions.
- In the past, the reduction from year to year has taken small steps, but never such a big step as now, he says.
- It is very gratifying.
180,000 electric cars in traffic
Rechargeable cars accounted for almost a third of new car sales in 2020.
This has contributed to carbon dioxide emissions from new passenger cars being reduced to an average of 93 grams per kilometer, compared with the previous year when the corresponding figure was 120 grams per kilometer.
At the turn of the year, the number of rechargeable cars in traffic was close to 180,000, or 3.6 percent of the total vehicle fleet, according to the Swedish Transport Administration.