"The second quarter of 2024 has the highest emissions for a second quarter since 2021," says Johanna Takman, analyst at SCB's environmental accounts, in a press release.
Compared to the second quarter last year, the increase was 5.6 percent. This despite the fact that Swedish GDP (the total production of goods and services) only increased by one percent during the period. Thus, emissions increased by 4.5 percent per unit of production in the Swedish economy.
Households, the construction industry, and the transport sector account for the largest emission increases. The largest increase was in the construction industry, plus 28 percent, "mainly due to increased use of fossil diesel," writes SCB.
"The emission increases from construction activities, households, and the transport sector can be linked to increased deliveries of fossil diesel, as shown by monthly fuel, gas, and inventory statistics," writes SCB. The reason is that the reduction obligation for blending biofuels in diesel, in particular, was significantly lowered, from 30.5 percent to 6 percent, at the turn of the year 2023/2024.